I' 


presented  to  the 

LIBRARY 
UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  •  SAN  DIF.GO 

by 
FRIENDS  OF  THE  LIBRARY 


MR.   &  MRS.  RICHARD  KORNHAUSER 

donor 


Private  Library  of 
Edwin  S.Mack.1 


Uniform  with  British  Orations 


AMERICAN  ORATIONS,  to  ilhistrate 
American  Political  History,  edited,  with 
introductions,  by  ALEXANDER  JOHNSTON, 
Professor  of  Jurisprudence  and  Political 
Economy  in  the  College  of  New  Jersey. 
3  vols.,  16  mo,  $3.75. 

PROSE  MASTERPIECES  FROM  MODERN 
ESSAYISTS,  comprising  single  specimen  es- 
says from  IRVING,  LEIGH  HUNT,  LAMB,  DE 
QUINCEY,  LANDOR,  SYDNEY  SMITH,  THACK- 
ERAY, EMERSON,  ARNOLD,  MORLEY,  HELPS, 

KlNGSLEY,    RUSKIN,     LOWELL,    CARLYLE,    MA- 

CAULAY,FROUDE,  FREEMAN,  GLADSTONE,  NEW- 
MAN, LESLIE  STEPHEN.  3  vols.,  i6mo,  bevelled 
boards,  $3.75  and  $4.50. 

G.  P.  PUTNAM'S  SONS,  NEW  YORK  AND  LONDON 


REPRESENTATIVE 

BRITISH    ORATIONS 

WITH 

INTRODUCTIONS  AND  EXPLANATORY  NOTES 

BY 

CHARLES  KENDALL  ADAMS . 


Vtdetisne  quantum  munus  sit  oratoris  kistoria? 

— CICERO,  DeOratore^  ii,  15 


NEW  YORK  &  LONDON 
G.    P.    PUTNAM'S    SONS 

££j  ILnuhtrbockrr  |jos0 
1884 


COPYRIGHT 

G.  P.  PUTNAM'S  SONS 


Press  of 

G.  P.  PUTNAM'S  SONS 
New  York 


A.  D.  A. 


CONTENTS. 


PACK 

SIR.  JOHN  ELIOT  ........        i 

SIR  JOHN  ELIOT 13 

ON  THE  CONDITION  OP  ENGLAND  UNDER  THE  DUKE  OF  BUCK- 
INGHAM.    DELIVERED  IN  HOUSE  OF  COMMONS,  JUNE  3,  1628. 

JOHN  PYM .        .27 

JOHN  PYM 37 

ON  THE  SUBJECT  OF  GRIEVANCES  IN  THE  REIGN  OF  CHARLES  I. 
HOUSE  OF  COMMONS,  APRIL  5,  1640. 

LORD  CHATHAM 85 

LORD  CHATHAM 98 

ON  THE  RIGHT  OF  TAXING  AMERICA.     HOUSB  OF  COMMONS, 
JANUARY  14,  1766. 

LORD  CHATHAM 120 

ON  AN   ADDRESS  TO  THE  THRONE  CONCERNING  AFFAIRS  IN 
AMERICA.     HOUSE  OP  LORDS,  NOVEMBER  18,  1777. 

LORD  MANSFIELD 143 

LORD  MANSFIELD 150 

ON  THE  RIGHT  OF   ENGLAND  TO^TAX  AMERICA.     HOUSE  op 
LORDS,  FEBRUARY  3,  1766. 

EDMUND  BURKE 172 

MR.  BURKE 182 

ON  MOVING  RESOLUTIONS  FOR  CONCILIATION  WITH  AMERICA. 
HOUSE  OF  COMMONS,  MARCH  22,  1775. 

ILLUSTRATIVE  NOTES 299 


PREFACE. 

THE  three  small  volumes  here  offered  to  the 
public  have  been  prepared  in  the  hope  that 
they  would  be  of  some  service  in  showing  the 
great  currents  of  political  thought  .that  have 
shaped  the  history  of  Great  Britain  during  the 
past  two  hundred  and  fifty  years.  The  effort 
has  been  not  so  much  to  make  a  collection  of 
the  most  remarkable  specimens  of  English  elo- 
quence, as  to  bring  together  the  most  famous 
of  those  oratorical  utterances  that  have  changed, 
or  here  tended  to  change,  the  course  of  English 
history. 

Eliot  and  Pym  formulated  the  grievances 
against  absolutism,  a  contemplation  of  which 
led  to  the  revolution  t'hat  established  Anglican 
liberty  on  its  present  basis.  Chatham,  Mans- 
field, and  Burke  elaborated  the  principles  which, 


VI  PREFACE. 

on  the  one  hand,  drove  the  American  colonies 
into  independence,  and,  on  the  other,  enabled 
their  independence  to  be  won  and  secured. 
Mackintosh  and  Erskine  enunciated  in  classical 
form  the  fundamental  rights  which  permanently 
secured  the  freedom  of  juries  and  the  freedom 
of  the  press.  Pitt,  in  the  most  elaborate  as  well 
as  the  most  important  of  all  his  remarkable 
speeches,  expounded  the  English  policy  of  con- 
tinuous opposition  to  Napoleon  ;  and  Fox,  in 
one  of  the  most  masterly  of  his  unrivalled  re- 
plies, gave  voice  to  that  sentiment  which  was  in 
favor  of  negotiations  for  peace.  Canning  not 
only  shaped  the  foreign  policy  of  the  nation 
during  the  important  years  immediately  suc- 
ceeding the  Napoleonic  wars,  but  put  that 
policy  into  something  like  permanent  form  in 
what  has  generally  been  considered  the  master- 
piece of  his  eloquence.  Macaulay's  first  speech 
on  the  Reform  Bill  of  1832  was  the  most  cogent 
advocacy  of  what  proved  to  be  nothing  less 
than  a  political  revolution ;  and  Cobden,  the 
inspirer  and  apostle  of  Free  Trade,  enjoys  the 


PREFACE.  VI 1 

unique  distinction  of  having  reversed  the  opin- 
ions of  a  prime-minister  by  means  of  his  per- 
suasive reasonings.  Bright  embodied  in  a  single 
eloquent  address  the  reasons  why  so  many  have 
thought  the  foreign  policy  of  England  to  be 
only  worthy  of  condemnation.  Beaconsfield 
concentrated  into  one  public  utterance  an 
expression  of  the  principles  which  it  has  long 
been  the  object  of  the  Conservative  party 
to  promulgate  and  defend  ;  and  Gladstone,  in 
one  of  his  Mid-Lothian  speeches,  put  into 
convenient  form  the  political  doctrines  of  the 
Liberals  in  regard  to  affairs  both  at  home 
and  abroad.  It  is  these  speeches,  which  at 
one  time  or  another  have  seemed  to  go  forth 
as  in  some  sense  the  authoritative  messages  of 
English  history  to  mankind,  that  are  here 
brought  together. 

The  speeches  are  in  almost  all  cases  given 
entire.  A  really  great  oration  is  a  worthy 
presentation  of  a  great  subject,  and  such  an 
utterance  does  not  lend  itself  readily  to  abridg- 
ment, for  the  reason  that  Its  very  excellence 


viii  PREFACE. 

consists  of  a  presentation  in  just  proportion  of 
all  its  parts.  An  orator  who  has  a  great  mes- 
sage to  deliver,  and  who  fulfils  his  task  in  a 
manner  worthy  of  his  subject,  excludes  every 
thing  that  does  not  form  an  essential  part  of 
his  argument ;  and  therefore  in  editing  these 
orations  it  has  seldom  been  thought  wise  to 
make  either  reductions  or  omissions.  In  a  few 
instances,  notably  in  the  speeches  of  Fox  and 
Cobden,  a  few  elaborations  of  purely  local  and 
temporary  significance  have  been  excluded ; 
but  the  omissions  in  all  cases  are  indicated  by 
asterisks. 

In  the  introductions  to  the  several  speeches 
an  effort  has  been  made  to  show  not  only  the 
political  situation  involved  in  the  discussion, 
but  also  the  right  of  the  orator  to  be  heard. 
These  two  objects  have  made  it  necessary  to 
place  before  the  reader  with  some  fulness  the 
political  careers  of  the  speakers  and  the  politi- 
cal questions  at  issue  when  the  speeches  were 
made.  The  illustrative  notes  at  the  end  of  the 
volumes  are  designed  simply  to  assist  the 


PREFACE.  IX 

reader  in  understanding  such  statements  and 
allusions  as  might  otherwise  be  obscure. 

I  cannot  submit  these  volumes  to  the  public 
without  expressing  the  hope  that  they  will  in 
some  small  measure  at  least  contribute  to  a 
juster  appreciation  of  that  liberty  which  we 
enjoy,  and  to  a  better  understanding  of  the 
arduous  means  by  which  free  political  institu- 
tions have  been  acquired. 

C  K.  A. 

UNIVERSITY  OF  MICHIGAN,  ANN  ARBOR, 
November  22,   1884. 


SIR  JOHN  ELIOT. 


DURING  the  second  half  of  the  sixteenth  cen- 
tury and  the  first  half  of  the  seventeenth,  the 
political  and  religious  energies  of  Europe  were 
very  largely  devoted  to  the  settlement  of  ques- 
tions that  had  been  raised  by  that  great  upheaval 
known  as  the  Protestant  Reformation.  On  the 
Continent  a  reaction  had  almost  everywhere  set 
in.  Not  only  were  the  new  religious  doctrines 
very  generally  stifled,  but  even  those  political 
discontents  which  seemed  to  follow  as  an  in- 
separable consequence  of  the  religious  move- 
ment, were  put  down  with  a  rigorous  hand. 
The  general  tendency  was  toward  the  establish- 
ment of  a  firmer  absolution  both  in  Church  and 
in  State. 

But  in  England  this  tendency  was  arrested. 
It  was  the  good  fortune  of  the  nation  to  have  a 


2  SIR  JOHN  ELIOT. 

monarch  upon  the  throne  who  vigorously  re- 
sisted every  foreign  attempt  to  interfere  with 
English  affairs.  It  was  doubtless  the  political 
situation  rather  than  earnestness  of  religious 
conviction  that  led  Elizabeth  to  make  the 
Church  of  England  independent  of  the  Church 
of  Rome.  But  in  securing  political  independ- 
ence she  also  secured  the  success  of  the  Refor- 
mation. Doubtless  she  was  neither  able  nor 
inclined  to  resist  the  prevailing  tendency  toward 
political  absolutism  ;  but  it  had  been  indispens- 
able to  her  success  that  she  should  enlist  in 
the  cause  of  religious  and  political  indepen- 
dence all  the  powers  of  the  nation.  However, 
as  soon  as  independence  was  established  by  the 
destruction  of  the  Spanish  Armada,  it  became 
evident  that  there  was  another  question  to  be 
settled  of  not  less  significance.  That  question 
was  whether  the  English  Constitution  was  to  be 
developed  in  the  direction  of  its  traditional 
methods,  or  whether  the  government  and  peo- 
ple should  adopt  the  reactionary  methods  that 
were  coming  to  be  so  generally  accepted  on  the 


SIR  JOHN  ELIOT.  3 

Continent.  It  took  a  century  of  strife  to  an- 
swer the  question.  The  struggle  did  not  be- 
come earnest  during  the  reign  of  Elizabeth, 
but  it  cost  Charles  I.  his  head,  and  the  Stuart 
dynasty  its  right  to  the  throne.  For  three 
generations  the  kings  were  willing  to  stake 
every  thing  in  favor  of  the  Continental  policy, 
while  Parliament  was  equally  anxious  to  main- 
tain the  traditional  methods.  It  was  unavoid- 
able that  a  conflict  should  ensue ;  and  the 
Great  Revolution  of  the  seventeenth  century 
was  the  result. 

James  I.,  during  the  whole  of  his  reign, 
showed  a  disposition  to  override  whatever 
principles  of  the  Constitution  stood  in  the  way 
of  his  personal  power.  Charles  I.  was  a  man 
of  stronger  character  than  his  father,  and  he 
brought  to  the  service  of  the  same  purpose  a 
greater  energy  and  a  more  determined  will. 
As  soon  as  he  ascended  the  throne  in  1625,  it 
began  to  look  as  though  a  contest  would  be 
inevitable  between  royal  will  on  the  one  hand 
and  popular  freedom  on  the  other.  The  King, 


4  SIR  JOHN  ELIOT. 

determined  to  rule  in  his  own  way,  not  only 
questioned  the  right  of  Parliament  to  inquire 
into  grievances,  but  even  insisted  upon  what  he 
regarded  as  his  own  right  to  levy  money  for  the 
support  of  the  Government  without  the  consent 
of  Parliament.  This  determination  Parliament 
was  disposed  to  question,  and  in  the  end  to 
resist. 

Under  the  maxim  of  the  English  Govern- 
ment, that  "  the  King  can  do  no  wrong,"  there 
is  but  one  way  of  securing  redress,  in  case  of  an 
undue  exercise  of  royal  power.  As  the  Con- 
stitution presumes  that  the  King  never  acts 
except  under  advice,  his  ministers,  as  his  con- 
stitutional advisers,  may  be  held  responsible  for 
all  his  acts.  The  impeachment  of  ministers, 
therefore,  is  the  constitutional  method  of  re- 
dress. It  was  the  method  resorted  to  in  1626. 
Articles  of  Impeachment  were  brought  by  the 
House  of  Commons  against  the  King's  Prime 
Minister  and  favorite,  the  Duke  of  Buckingham. 

One  of  the  most  prominent  members  of  Par- 
liament, and  the  foremost  orator  of  the  day 


SIH  JOHN  ELIOT.  5 

was  Sir  John  Eliot.  This  patriot,  born  in  1590, 
and  consequently  now  thirty-six  years  of  age, 
was  appointed  by  the  Commons  one  of  the 
managers  of  the  impeachment.  With  such 
skill  and  vigor  did  he  conduct  the  prosecution 
against  Buckingham,  that  the  king  determined 
to  put  a  stop  to  the  impeachment  by  ordering 
Eliot's  arrest  and  imprisonment.  Eliot  was 
thrown  into  the  Tower ;  but  the  Commons  re- 
garded the  arrest  as  so  flagrant  a  violation  of 
the  rights  of  members  that  they  immediately 
resolved  "  not  to  do  any  more  business  till  they 
were  righted  in  their  privileges."  The  King,  in 
view  of  this  unexpected  evidence  of  spirit  on 
the  part  of  the  Commons,  deemed  it  prudent 
to  relent.  Eliot  was  discharged  ;  and  the  Com- 
mons, on  his  triumphal  reappearance  in  the 
House,  declared  by  vote  "  that  their  managers 
had  not  exceeded  the  commission  entrusted  to 
them." 

Thus  the  first  triumph  in  the  contest  was 
gained  by  the  Commons.  But  the  King  was 
not  unwilling  to  resort  to  even  more  desperate 


6  SIX  JOHN  ELIOT. 

measures.  He  determined  to  raise  money  inde- 
pendently of  Parliament,  and,  if  Parliament 
should  continue  to  pry  into  the  affairs  of  his 
minister,  to  dispense  with  Parliament  almost  or 
quite  altogether.  This  desperate  determination 
he  undertook  to  carry  out  chiefly  by  the  raising 
of  forced  loans  and  the  issuing  of  monopolies. 
But  here  again  the  King  met  with  a  more  stren- 
uous opposition  than  he  had  anticipated.  Eliot 
and  Hampden,  with  some  seventy-six  other 
members  of  the  English  gentry  refused  to 
make  the  contribution  demanded.  As  such 
defiance  threatened  to  break  down  the  whole 
system,  the  King  was  forced  either  to  resort  to 
extreme  measures  or  to  abandon  his  method. 
He  resolved  upon  the  former  course,  but  he 
was  forced  to  the  latter.  He  threw  Eliot  and 
Hampden  into  prison ;  but  the  outcry  of  the 
people  was  so  great  and  so  general  that  the 
necessary  money  could  not  be  raised,  and  so  he 
was  obliged  to  call  his  third  Parliament.  Eliot 
and  Hampden,  though  in  prison,  were  elected 
members ;  and  the  King,  not  deeming  it  pru- 


JOHN-  ELIOT.  7 

dent  to  retain  them,  ordered  their  release  a  few 
days  before  the  opening  of  the  session. 

The  special  object  for  which  Parliament  had 
been  called  by  the  King  was  the  granting  of 
money  ;  but  the  members  were  in  no  mood  to 
let  the  opportunity  pass  without  securing  from 
the  monarch  an  acknowledgment  of  their  rights 
in  definite  form.  Accordingly,  they  appointed 
Sir  Edward  Coke,  the  most  distinguished  law- 
yer of  the  time,  to  draw  up  a  petition  to  the 
King  that  should  embody  a  declaration  of  the 
constitutional  privileges  on  which  they  reposed 
their  rights.  The  result  was  the  famous  "  Pe- 
tition of  Right,"  an  instrument  which,  in  the 
history  of  English  liberty,  has  been  only  second 
in  importance  to  the  Great  Charter  itself.  The 
petition  asked  the  King's  assent  to  a  number 
of  propositions,  the  most  important  of  which 
were  that  no  loan  or  tax  should  be  levied  with- 
out the  consent  of  Parliament ;  that  no  man 
should  be  imprisoned  except  by  legal  process  ; 
and  that  soldiers  should  not  be  quartered  upon 
the  people  without  the  people's  consent.  These 


8  SIX  JOHN  ELIOT. 

propositions  introduced  nothing  new  into  the 
Constitution.  They  professed  simply  to  ask 
the  King's  approval  of  principles  and  methods 
that  had  been  acknowledged  and  acted  upon 
for  hundreds  of  years.  The  great  significance 
of  the  Petition  of  Right  was  that  it  designed  to 
secure  the  assent  of  the  monarch  to  a  reign 
of  law  instead  of  a  reign  of  arbitrary  will.  The 
object  of  Parliament  was  to  put  into  definite 
form  a  clear  expression  of  the  King's  purpose. 
They  desired  to  know  whether  his  intention 
was  to  rule  according  to  the  precedents  of  the 
English  Constitution  that  had  been  taking  defi- 
nite form  for  centuries,  or  whether,  on  the  con- 
trary, he  was  determined  to  build  up  a  system 
of  absolutism  similar  to  that  which  was  very 
generally  coming  to  prevail  on  the  Continent. 
The  petition  passed  the  two  Houses  and  went 
to  the  King  for  his  approval.  He  gave  an 
evasive  answer.1  *  Parliament  was  taken  by 
surprise  and  seemed  likely  to  be  baffled.  It  was 

*  Numerals  inserted  in  the  course  of  the  work  refer  the 
reader  to  corresponding  Illustrative  Notes  at  the  end  of  each 
volume. 


SIR  JOHN'  ELIOT.  9 

a  crisis  of  supreme  danger.  Sir  John  Eliot  was 
the  first  to  see  that  if  they  were  now  to  thwart 
the  King's  purpose  it  must  be  done  by  availing 
themselves  immediately  of  the  responsibility  of 
Buckingham.  He  determined  that  the  proper 
course  was  a  remonstrance  to  the  King ;  and 
it  was  in  moving  this  remonstrance  that  his 
great  speech  was  made. 

On  hearing  the  King's  answer,  Parliament,  in 
great  perplexity  and  despondency,  immediately 
adjourned  till  the  next  day.  When,  on  the 
morning  of  June  3,  1628,  the  Commons  came 
together,  "  the  King's  answer,"  says  Rushworth, 
"  was  read,  and  seemed  too  scant,  in  regard  to 
so  much  expense,  time,  and  labor  as  had  been  ex- 
pended in  contriving  the  petition.  Whereupon 
Sir  John  Eliot  stood  up  and  made  a  long  speech, 
and  a  lively  representation  of  all  grievances, 
both  general  and  particular,  as  if  they  had 
never  before  been  mentioned."  2 

Throughout  the  speech  there  is  a  compact- 
ness and  an  impetuosity  truly  remarkable.  No 
one  at  all  familiar  with  the  history  and  condi- 


10  SIX  JOHN  ELIOT. 

tion  of  the  time,  will  fail  to  see  that  it  was  a 
masterly  presentation  of  the  issues  at  stake.  It 
is  pervaded  with  a  tone  of  loyalty — even  of  af- 
fection— toward  the  King.  The  argument  was 
founded  on  the  theory  that  even  under  the  best 
of  kings,  with  an  irresponsible  form  of  adminis- 
tration, there  can  be  no  security  against  selfish 
and  ambitious  ministers,  and  that  under  any 
government  whatever  there  can  be  no  adequate 
guarantees  against  such  abuses  except  in  the 
provisions  of  law.  The  orator  introduces  no 
grievance  personal  to  himself,  though  he  had 
already  twice  suffered  imprisonment  for  words 
spoken  in  debate.  His  entire  object  seems  to 
have  been  to  expose  abuses  that  had  oppressed 
the  people  during  the  ten  years  under  Bucking- 
ham's rule,  and  to  show  how,  by  means  of  his 
duplicity  and  incompetency,  the  honor  of  the 
country  had  been  sacrificed,  its  allies  betrayed, 
and  those  necessities  of  the  King  created  which 
gave  rise  to  the  abuses  complained  of  in  the 
Petition  of  Right. 

Aside  from  the  striking  oratorical  merits  of  the 


SIR  JOHN  ELIOT.  II 

speech  and  the  light  it  throws  on  the  all-im- 
portant struggles  of  the  time,  there  are  two  cir- 
cumstances that  tend  to  give  it  peculiar  inter- 
est. It  is  the  earliest  parliamentary  speech  of 
real  importance  that  has  been  preserved  to  us. 
The  age  in  which  it  was  delivered  is  enough  to 
account  for  the  antique  air  of  the  orator's  style 
— a  style,  however,  which  will  be  especially 
relished  by  all  those  who  have  learned  to  enjoy 
the  quaint  literary  flavor  of  our  early  masters 
of  English  prose.  The  other  circumstance  of 
especial  interest  is  the  fact  that  soon  after  the 
delivery  of  the  speech,  and  in  consequent  of  it, 
Eliot  was  thrown  into  prison,  where,  after  an 
ignominious  confinement  and  a  brutal  treat- 
ment of  two  and  a  half  years,  he  died  a  martyr's 
death.  His  earnest  plea  not  only  cost  him  his 
life,  but  it  cost  him  a  long  period  of  ignominy 
that  was  far  worse  than  death.  But  he  kept 
the  faith,  and  calmly  underwent  his  slow  mar- 
tyrdom. The  last  word  that  he  sent  out  from 
his  prison  was  an  expression  of  belief  that  upon 
the  maintenance  or  the  abandonment  of  the 


12  SIX  JOHN  ELIOT. 

privileges  of  Parliament  would  depend  the  fu- 
ture glory  or  misery  of  England.  By  the 
ability  of  his  advocacy,  by  the  constancy  of  his 
purpose,  and  by  the  manner  of  his  death,  he 
fully  deserved  that  the  author  of  the  "  Constitu- 
tional History  of  England  "  should  call  him,  as 
he  does,  "  the  most  illustrious  confessor  in  the 
cause  of  liberty  whom  that  time  produced." 


SIR  JOHN  ELIOT. 


ON  THE  CONDITION  OF  ENGLAND  UNDER  THE    DUKE 

OF  BUCKINGHAM,  DELIVERED  IN  THE  HOUSE 

OF  COMMONS,  JUNE  3,   1628. 

MR.  SPEAKER  : 

We  sit  here  as  the  great  council  of  the  King, 
and,  in  that  capacity  it  is  our  duty  to  take  into 
consideration  the  state  and  affairs  of  the  king- 
dom ;  and,  where  there  is  occasion,  to  give 
them  in  a  true  representation  by  way  of  coun- 
cil and  advice,  what  we  conceive  necessary 
or  expedient  for  them. 

In  this  consideration,  I  confess,  many  a  sad 
thought  has  frighted  me  :  and  that  not  only  in 
respect  of  our  dangers  from  abroad,  which  yet 
I  know  are  great,  as  they  have  been  often 
in  this  place  prest  and  dilated  to  us  ;  but  in 
respect  of  our  disorders  here  at  home,  which 
do  inforce  those  dangers,  as  by  them  they  were 
occasioned. 

For  I  believe  I  shall  make  it  clear  unto  you, 
13 


14  SIX  JOHN  ELIOT. 

that  as  at  first  the  causes  of  those  dangers 
were  our  disorders,  our  disorders  still  remain 
our  greatest  dangers.  It  is  not  now  so  much 
the  potency  of  our  enemies,  as  the  weakness  of 
ourselves,  that  threatens  us  ;  and  that  saying  of 
the  Father  may  be  assumed  by  us,  Non  tarn 
potentia  sua  quam  negligent ia  nostra.  Our 
want  of  true  devotion  to  Heaven,  our  insincer- 
ity and  doubling  in  religion,  our  want  of 
councils,  our  precipitate  actions,  the  in- 
sufficiency or  unfaithfulness  of  our  generals 
abroad,  the  ignorance  or  corruption  of  our 
ministers  at  home,  the  impoverishing  of  the 
sovereign,  the  oppression  and  depression  of  the 
subject,  the  exhausting  of  our  treasures,  the 
waste  of  our  provisions,  consumption  of  our 
ships,  destruction  of  our  men  ! — These  make  the 
advantage  to  our  enemies,  not  the  reputation 
of  their  arms.  And  if  in  these  there  be  not 
reformation,  we  need  no  foes  abroad !  Time 
itself  will  ruin  us. 

You  will  all  hold  it  necessary  that  what  I 
am  about  to  urge  seem  not  an  aspersion  on  the 
state  or  imputation  on  the  government,  as  I 
have  known  such  mentions  misinterpreted.  Far 
is  it  from  me  to  purpose  this,  that  have  none 
but  clear  thoughts  of  the  excellency  of  his 


CONDITION  OF  ENGLAND.  15 

Majesty,  nor    can    have   other   ends   but   the 
advancement  of  his  glory. 

To  shew  what  I  have  said  more  fully,  there- 
fore, I  shall  desire  a  little  of  your  patience 
extraordinary  to  open  the  particulars :  which  I 
shall  do  with  what  brevity  I  may,  answerable 
to  the  importance  of  the  cause  and  the  neces- 
sities now  upon  us ;  yet  with  such  respect  and 
observation  to  the  time  as  I  hope  it  shall  not 
be  thought  too  troublesome. 

For  the  first,  then,  our  insincerity  and  doub- 
ling in  religion,  the  greatest  and  most  dangerous 
disorder  of  all  others,  which  has  never  been  un- 
punished, and  for  which  we  have  so  many 
strange  examples  of  all  states  and  in  all  times 
to  awe  us, — what  testimony  does  it  want  ? 
Will  you  have  authority  of  books  ?  look  on  the 
collections  of  the  committee  for  religion,  there 
is  too  clear  an  evidence.  Will  you  have 
records  ?  see  then  the  commission  procured 
for  composition  with  the  papists  in  the  North? 
Note  the  proceedings  thereupon.  You  will 
find  them  to  little  less  amounting  than  a  tolera- 
tion in  effect,  though  upon  some  slight  pay- 
ments; and  the  easiness  in  them  will  likewise 
shew  the  favor  that  's  intended.  Will  you  have 
proofs  of  men  ?  witness  the  hopes,  witness  the 


1 6  SIR  JOHN  ELIOT. 

presumptions,  witness  the  reports  of  all  the 
papists  generally.  Observe  the  dispositions  of 
commands,  the  trust  of  officers,  the  confidence 
of  secrecies  of  employments,  in  this  kingdom, 
in  Ireland,  and  elsewhere.  They  all  will  shew 
it  has  too  great  a  certainty.  And,  to  these,  add 
but  the  incontrovertible  evidence  of  that  all- 
powerful  hand  which  we  have  felt  so  sorely, 
to  give  it  full  assurance  !  For  as  the  Heavens 
oppose  themselves  to  us,  it  was  our  impieties 
that  first  opposed  the  Heavens. 

For  the  second,  our  want  of  councils,  that 
great  disorder  in  a  State  with  which  there  cannot 
be  stability,3  if  effects  may  shew  their  causes,  as 
they  are  often  a  perfect  demonstration  of  them, 
our  misfortunes,  our  disasters,  serve  to  prove 
it !  And  (if  reason  be  allowed  in  this  dark  age, 
by  the  judgment  of  dependencies,  the  foresight 
of  contingencies,  in  affairs)  the  consequences 
they  draw  with  them  confirm  it.  For,  if  we 
view  ourselves  at  home,  are  we  in  strength,  are 
we  in  reputation,  equal  to  our  ancestors?  If 
we  view  ourselves  abroad,  are  our  friends  as 
many,  are  our  enemies  no  more?  Do  our 
friends  retain  their  safety  and  possessions  ?  Do 
our  enemies  enlarge  themselves,  and  gain  from 
them  and  us?  What  council,  to  the  loss  of  the 


CONDITION  OF  ENGLAND.  I'J 

Palatinate,4  sacrificed  both  our  honor  and  our 
men  sent  thither ;  stopping  those  greater  pow- 
ers appointed  for  that  service,  by  which  it 
might  have  been  defensible  ?  What  council 
gave  directions  to  that  late  action  whose 
wounds  lie  yet  a  bleeding  ?  I  mean  the  expe- 
dition unto  Rhee,5  of  which  there  is  yet  so  sad 
a  memory  in  all  men  !  What  design  for  us,  or 
advantage  to  our  State,  could  that  work  im- 
port ?  You  know  the  wisdom  of  our  ancestors, 
the  practice  of  their  times  ;  and  how  they  pre- 
served their  safeties  !  We  all  know,  and  have 
as  much  cause  to  doubt  as  they  had,  the  great- 
ness and  ambition  of  that  kingdom,  which  the 
old  world  could  not  satisfy !  Against  this 
greatness  and  ambition  we  likewise  know  the 
proceedings  of  that  princess,  that  never  to  be 
forgotten  excellence,  Queen  Elizabeth  ;  whose 
name,  without  admiration,  falls  not  into  men- 
tion with  her  enemies.  You  know  how  she  ad- 
vanced herself,  how  she  advanced  this  kingdom, 
how  she  advanced  this  nation,  in  glory  and  in 
State  ;  how  she  depressed  her  enemies,  how  she 
upheld  her  friends ;  how  she  enjoyed  a  full 
security,  and  made  them  then  our  scorn,  who 
now  are  made  our  terror  !  6 

Some   of   the  principles  she  built  on,  were 


1 8  SSJ?  JOHN  ELIOT. 

these ;  and  if  I  be  mistaken,  let  reason  and  our 
statesmen  contradict  me. 

First,  to  maintain,  in  what  she  might,  a  unity 
in  France,  that  that  kingdom,  being  at  peace 
within  itself,  might  be  a  bulwark  to  keep  back 
the  power  of  Spain  by  land.  Next,  to  preserve 
an  amity  and  league  between  that  State  and  us ; 
that  so  we  might  join  in  aid  of  the  Low  Coun- 
tries, and  by  that  means  receive  their  help  and 
ships  by  sea. 

Then,  that  this  treble  cord,  so  wrought  be- 
tween France,  the  States,  and  us,  might  enable 
us,  as  occasion  should  require,  to  give  assistance 
unto  others  ;  by  which  means,  the  experience 
of  that  time  doth  tell  us,  we  were  not  only  free 
from  those  fears  that  now  possess  and  trouble 
us,  but  then  our  names  were  fearful  to  our 
enemies.  See  now  what  correspondence  our 
action  hath  had  with  this. 

Square  it  by  these  rules.  It  did  induce  as  a 
necessary  consequence  the  division  in  France  be- 
tween the  Protestants  and  their  king,  of  which 
there  is  too  woeful,  too  lamentable  an  experi- 
ence. It  has  made  an  absolute  breach  between 
that  State  and  us  ;  and  so  entertains  us  against 
France,  France  in  preparation  against  us,  that 
we  have  nothing  to  promise  to  our  neighbors, 


CONDITION  OF  ENGLAND.  19 

hardly  for  ourselves.  Nay,  but  observe  the 
time  in  which  it  was  attempted,  and  you  shall 
find  it  not  only  varying  from  those  principles, 
but  directly  contrary  and  opposite  ex  diametro 
to  those  ends  ;  and  such  as  from  the  issue  and 
success  rather  might  be  thought  a  conception  of 
Spain  than  begotten  here  with  us* 

Mr.  Speaker,  I  am  sorry  for  this  interruption, 
but  much  more  sorry  if  there  have  been  occa- 
sion ;  wherein,  as  I  shall  submit  myself  wholly 
to  your  judgment  to  receive  what  censure  you 

*  This  allusion  or  insinuation  of  Eliot's  provoked  an  instan- 
taneous uproar.  Buckingham  had  visited  the  Courts  of  Spain 
and  France,  and  his  name  had  been  associated  with  discredit- 
able intrigues.  In  the  streets  of  London  there  had  been  talk 
of  "  treasonable  correspondence,"  and  of  "  a  sacrifice  to  vanity 
or  passion  of  the  most  sacred  duties  of  patriotism."  When 
Eliot,  therefore,  alluded  to  the  act  of  England  as  springing 
from  the  "conception  of  Spain,"  he  struck  a  sensitive  spot. 
The  Chancellor,  Sir  Humphrey  May,  sprang  to  his  feet,  and 
exclaimed:  "Sir,  this  is  strange  language.  It  is  arraigning 
the  Council."  But  a  general  shout  arose  demanding  that  Eliot 
should  go  on.  Then  the  Chancellor  said  :  "  If  Sir  John  Eliot  is 
to  go  on,  I  claim  permission  to  go  out."  In  an  instant,  the  Ser- 
geant, by  order  of  the  House,  opened  the  door,  and,  according 
to  testimony  of  Alured,  who  was  present,  ' '  they  all  bade  him 
begone  !  Yet  he  stayed,  and  heard  Sir  John  out."  It  is  evi- 
dent from  this  incident  that  Eliot  had  the  sympathies  of  the 
House  in  his  firm  grasp.  When  quiet  was  restored,  Sir  John 
resumed  his  argument. 


20  SIR  JOHN  ELIOT. 

shall  give  me  if  I  have  offended,  so  in  the 
integrity  of  my  intentions,  and  clearness  of 
my  thoughts,  I  must  still  retain  this  confidence, 
that  no  greatness  may  deter  me  from  the  duties 
which  I  owe  to  the  service  of  the  country,  the 
service  of  the  King.  With  a  true  English  heart, 
I  shall  discharge  myself  as  faithfully  and  as  really, 
to  the  extent  of  my  poor  powers,  as  any  man 
whose  honors  or  whose  offices  most  strictly 
have  obliged  him. 

You  know  the  dangers  Denmark  was  then  in, 
and  how  much  they  concerned  us ;  what  in 
respect  of  our  alliance  with  that  country,  what 
in  the  importance  of  the  Sound  ;  what  an  acqui- 
sition to  our  enemies  the  gain  thereof  would  be, 
what  loss,  what  prejudice  to  us  !  By  this  di- 
vision, we,  breaking  upon  France,  France  being 
engaged  by  us,  and  the  Netherlands  at  amaze- 
ment between  both,  neither  could  intend  to  aid 
that  luckless  King  whose  loss  is  our  disaster. 

Can  those  now,  that  express  their  troubles  at 
the  hearing  of  these  things,  and  have  so  often 
told  us  in  this  place  of  their  knowledge  in  the 
conjunctures  and  disjunctures  of  affairs,  say 
they  advised  in  this  ?  Was  this  an  act  of  coun- 
cil, Mr.  Speaker?  I  have  more  charity  than  to 
think  it ;  and  unless  they  make  a  confession 
of  themselves,  I  cannot  believe  it.7 


CONDITION  OF  ENGLAND.  21 

What  shall  I  say?  I  wish  there  were  not 
cause  to  mention  it ;  and,  but  out  of  apprehen- 
sion of  the  danger  that  is  to  come  if  the  like 
choice  hereafter  be  not  now  prevented,  I  could 
willingly  be  silent.  But  my  duty  to  my  Sover- 
eign and  to  the  service  of  this  House,  the  safety 
and  the  honor  of  my  country,  are  above  all 
respects ;  and  what  so  nearly  trenches  to  the 
prejudice  of  these,  may  not,  shall  not,  be  for- 
borne. 

At  Cadiz,8  then,  in  that  first  expedition  we 
made,  when  they  arrived  and  found  a  conquest 
ready  (the  Spanish  ships,  I  mean),  fit  for  the  satis- 
faction of  a  voyage,  and  of  which  some  of  the 
chiefs  then  there  have  since  themselves  assured 
me  the  satisfaction  would  have  been  sufficient, 
either  in  point  of  honor,  or  in  point  of  profit. 
Why  was  it  neglected?  Why  was  it  not 
achieved  ?  it  being  of  all  hands  granted  how 
feasible  it  was. 

Afterward,  when,  with  the  destruction  of 
some  men,  and  the  exposure  of  some  others 
(who,  though  their  fortunes  have  not  since 
been  such,  then  by  chance  came  off),  when,  I 
say,  with  the  losses  of  our  serviceable  men,  that 
unserviceable  fort  was  gained,  and  the  whole 
army  landed,  why  was  there  nothing  done, 


22  SIR  JOHN  ELIOT. 

nothing  once  attempted  ?  If  nothing  were  in- 
tended, wherefore  did  they  land  ?  If  there  were 
a  service,  why  were  they  shipped  again  ? 

Mr.  Speaker,  it  satisfies  me  too  much  in  this, 
when  I  think  of  their  dry  and  hungry  march 
unto  that  drunken  quarter  (for  so  the  soldiers 
termed  it)  where  was  the  period  of  their  jour- 
ney, that  divers  of  our  men  being  left  as  a 
sacrifice  to  the  enemy,  that  labor  was  at  an  end. 

For  the  next  undertaking,  at  Rh6e,  I  will 
not  trouble  you  much ;  only  this  in  short : 
Was  not  that  whole  action  carried  against  the 
judgment  and  opinion  of  the  officers  ?  those 
that  were  of  council  ?  Was  not  the  first,  was 
not  the  last,  was  not  all,  in  the  landing,  in  the 
intrenching,  in  the  continuance  there,  in  the 
assault,  in  the  retreat  ?  Did  any  advice  take 
place  of  such  as  were  of  the  council?  If  there 
should  be  a  particular  disquisition  thereof,  these 
things  would  be  manifest,  and  more.  I  will 
not  instance  now  the  manifestation  that  was 
made  for  the  reason  of  these  arms  ;  nor  by 
whom,  nor  in  what  manner,  nor  on  what 
grounds  it  was  published  ;  nor  what  effects  it 
has  wrought,  drawing,  as  you  know,  almost 
all  the  whole  world  into  league  against  us! 
Nor  will  I  mention  the  leaving  of  the  mines, 


CONDITION  OF  ENGLAND.  23 

the  leaving  of  the  salt,  which  were  in  our  pos- 
session ;  and  of  a  value  as  it  is  said,  to  have  an- 
swered much  of  our  expense.  Nor  that  great 
wonder,  which  nor  Alexander  nor  Caesar  ever 
did,  the  enriching  of  the  enemy  by  courtesies 
when  the  soldiers  wanted  help  !  nor  the  pri- 
vate intercourses  and  parlies  with  the  fort, 
which  continually  were  held.  What  they  in- 
tended may  be  read  in  the  success,  and  upon 
due  examination  thereof  they  would  not 
want  the  proofs.  For  the  last  voyage  to 
Rochelle,  there  needs  no  observation ;  it  is  so 
fresh  in  memory.  Nor  will  I  make  an  inference 
or  corollary  on  all.  Your  own  knowledge  shall 
judge  what  truth,  or  what  sufficiency  they  ex- 
press. 

For  the  next,  the  ignorance  or  corruption  of 
our  ministers,  where  can  you  miss  of  instan- 
ces ?  If  you  survey  the  court,  if  you  survey 
the  country,  if  the  church,  if  the  city  be  ex- 
amined ;  if  you  observe  the  bar,  if  the  bench ; 
if  the  courts,  if  the  shipping ;  if  the  land,  if  the 
seas ;  all  these  will  render  you  variety  of  proofs. 
And  in  such  measure  and  proportion  as  shows 
the  greatness  of  our  sickness,  that  if  it  have  not 
some  speedy  application  for  remedy,  our  case 
is  most  desperate. 


24  SfJ?  JOHN  ELIOT. 

Mr.  Speaker,  I  fear  I  have  been  too  long  in 
these  particulars  that  are  past,  and  am  un- 
willing to  offend  you  ;  therefore  in  the  rest  I 
shall  be  shorter.  And  in  that  which  concerns 
the  impoverishing  of  the  King,  no  other  argu- 
ments will  I  use  than  such  as  all  men  grant. 

The  exchequer  you  know  is  empty,  the  repu- 
tation thereof  gone  !  The  ancient  lands  are 
sold,  the  jewels  pawned,  the  plate  engaged,  the 
debt  still  great,  and  almost  all  charges,  both  or- 
dinary and  extraordinary,  borne  by  projects ! 
What  poverty  can  be  greater  ?  What  necessity 
so  great  ?  What  perfect  English  heart  is  not 
almost  dissolved  into  sorrow  for  the  truth  ? 

For  the  oppression  of  the  subject,  which,  as 
I  remember,  is  the  next  particular  I  proposed, 
it  needs  no  demonstration.  The  whole  king- 
dom is  a  proof.  And  for  the  exhausting  of  our 
treasures,  that  oppression  speaks  it.  What 
Avaste  of  our  provisions,  what  consumption  of 
our  ships,  what  destruction  of  our  men,  have 
been, — witness  the  journey  to  Algiers  !  9  Wit- 
ness that  with  Mansfield  !  Witness  that  to 
Cadiz !  Witness  the  next  !  Witness  that  to 
Rhee !  Witness  the  last !  (And  I  pray  God 
we  may  never  have  more  such  witnesses.) 
Witness  likewise  the  Palatinate !  Witness 


CONDITION  OF  ENGLAND.  2$ 

Denmark  !  Witness  the  Turks  !  Witness  the 
Dunkirkers  !  Witness  all  f  What  losses  we 
have  sustained  !  How  we  are  impaired  in  mu- 
nition, in  ships,  in  men  !  It  has  no  contradic- 
tion !  We  were  never  so  much  weakened,  nor 
had  less  hope  how  to  be  restored  ! 

These,  Mr.  Speaker,  are  our  dangers;  these 
are  they  do  threaten  us,  and  are  like  that 
Trojan  horse  brought  in  cunningly  to  surprise 
us !  For  in  these  do  lurk  the  strongest  of  our 
enemies  ready  to  issue  on  us  ;  and  if  we  do  not 
now  the  more  speedily  expel  them,  these  will 
be  the  sign  and  invitation  to  the  others.  They 
will  prepare  such  entrance  that  we  shall  have 
no  means  left  of  refuge  or  defence ;  for  if  we 
have  these  enemies  at  home,  how  can  we  strive 
with  those  that  are  abroad  ?  But  if  we  be  free 
from  these,  no  others  can  impeach  us!  Our 
ancient  English  virtue,  that  old  Spartan  valor, 
cleared  from  these  disorders  ;  being  in  sincerity 
of  religion  once  made  friends  with  Heaven ; 
having  maturity  of  councils,  sufficiency  of  gen- 
erals, incorruption  of  officers,  opulency  in  the 
king,  liberty  in  the  people,  repletion  in  treas- 
ures, restitution  of  provisions,  reparation  of 
ships,  preservation  of  men — our  ancient  English 
virtue,  I  say  thus  rectified,  will  secure  us. 

But  unless  there  be  a  speedy  reformation  in 


26  SIR  JOHN  ELIOT. 

these,  I  know  not  what  hope  or  expectation  we 
may  have. 

These  things,  sir,  I  shall  desire  to  have  taken 
into  consideration.  That  as  we  are  the  great 
council  of  the  kingdom,  and  have  the  appre- 
hension of  these  dangers,  we  may  truly  repre- 
sent them  to  the  King ;  wherein  I  conceive  we 
are  bound  by  a  treble  obligation  of  duty  unto 
God,  of  duty  to  his  Majesty,  and  of  duty  to  our 
country. 

And  therefore  I  wish  it  may  so  stand  with  the 
wisdom  and  judgment  of  the  house,  that  they 
may  be  drawn  into  the  body  of  a  Remonstrance, 
and  there  with  all  humility  expressed  ;  with  a 
prayer  unto  his  Majesty,  that  for  the  safety  of 
himself,  for  the  safety  of  the  kingdom,  for  the 
safety  of  religion,  he  will  be  pleased  to  give  us 
time  to  make  perfect  inquisition  thereof ;  or  to 
take  them  into  his  own  wisdom  and  there  give 
them  such  timely  reformation  as  the  necessity  of 
the  cause,  and  his  justice  do  import.  And  thus, 
sir,  with  a  large  affection  and  loyalty  to  his 
Majesty,  and  with  a  firm  duty  and  service  to  my 
country,  I  have  suddenly,  and  it  may  be  with 
some  disorder,  expressed  the  weak  apprehen- 
sions I  have,  wherein  if  I  have  erred,  I  humbly 
crave  your  pardon,  and  so  submit  it  to  the 
censure  of  the  House. 


JOHN    PYM. 


WHEN  the  English  Parliament  of  1628  came 
together,  the  King  told  them  :  "  If  you  do  not 
your  duty,  mine  would  then  order  me  to  use 
those  other  means  which  God  has  put  into  my 
hand."  Charles's  notion  of  Parliamentary  duty 
was  simply  that  the  members  should  vote  neces- 
sary supplies,  and  then  leave  the  expenditures  to 
the  royal  will.  Parliament,  however,  insisted 
upon  some  assurances  that  abuses  would  not  be 
repeated.  The  Petition  of  Right,  as  we  saw  in 
our  account  of  Eliot,  was  the  result.  Though 
the  King  was  obliged  to  give  his  assent  to  the 
petition,  it  soon  became  evident  that  he  had  no 
intention  to  carry  out  its  provisions  either  in 
the  letter  or  in  the  spirit.  The  liberal  supplies 
granted  by  Parliament  after  the  signing  of  the 
petition  were  soon  exhausted.  Every  expe- 

27 


28  JOHN  PYM. 

dient  of  economy  was  resorted  to  in  order  to 
avoid  the  necessity  of  calling  another  Parlia- 
ment. 

At  first  there  was  perhaps  no  clearly  defined 
purpose  to  cause  any  positive  breach  of 
constitutional  obligation,  but  gradually  the 
government  drifted  into  a  policy  of  the  most 
flagrant  oppression.  No  Parliament  was  called 
for  eleven  years.  The  powers  of  the  prerogative 
were  strained  at  every  point.  Knighthood  was 
forced  on  the  gentry  in  order  that  large 
sums  might  be  extorted  as  the  price  of  com- 
position. Enormous  fines  were  levied  for  re- 
moving defects  in  title  deeds.  Large  sums 
were  exacted  of  landowners  for  encroachments 
on  the  crown  lands.  London,  in  consequence 
of  its  open  sympathy  with  the  Parliamentary 
cause,  became  a  special  object  of  royal  dislike. 
An  edict  was  issued  prohibiting  the  enlarge- 
ment of  the  metropolis  ;  and  large  districts  in  the 
suburbs  were  saved  from  demolition  only  by  the 
payment  of  three  years'  rental  to  the  royal 
treasury.  The  powers  of  the  Court  of  Star 


JOHN  PYM,  29 

Chamber  were  applied  to  the  trying  of  causes 
on  the  simple  information  of  the  King's  attorney, 
and  the  court  was  authorized  to  adjudge  any 
punishment  short  of  death.  Under  its  jurisdic- 
tion enormous  fines  were  levied  for  the  most 
trifling  offences.  A  simple  brawl  between  two 
wealthy  lords  had  to  be  atoned  for  by  the  pay- 
ment of  .£5,000,  and  more  than  twice  that  sum 
was  exacted  of  a  gentleman  as  a  fine  for  con- 
tracting marriage  with  his  niece.  Monopolies, 
which  had  been  formally  abandoned  both  by 
Elizabeth  and  by  James,  were  now  revived  in 
direct  and  open  violation  of  the  Petition  of 
Right,  in  order  that  large  sums  might  be  real- 
ized from  the  persons  receiving  the  privileges 
bestowed  by  the  concession.  Nearly  every 
article  of  domestic  necessity  had  to  be  procured 
directly  or  indirectly  from  some  monopolist; 
and,  consequently,  the  expense  of  living  was 
very  greatly  increased.  Customs  duties  were 
levied  just  as  if  they  had  been  voted  by 
Parliament,  and  after  a  time  writs  were  issued 
for  a  general  levy  of  benevolences  from  the 


3O  JOHN  PYM. 

shires.  Thus,  one  by  one,  even  the  most  fla- 
grant of  the  abuses  he  had  promised  to  abolish, 
were  resorted  to  without  hesitation  and  without 
scruple. 

Not  less  flagrant  were  the  abuses  of  a  re- 
ligious nature.  The  Commons,  in  the  last  mo- 
ments of  the  session  of  1629,  had  resolved  that 
"whoever  should  bring  in  innovations  in  re- 
ligion," as  well  as  "  whoever  advised  the  levy  of 
subsidies  not  granted  in  Parliament,"  was  to  be 
regarded  as  "  a  capital  enemy  of  the  kingdom 
and  commonwealth."  And  yet  it  was  to  "  bring 
in  innovations  in  religion  "  that  the  energies  of 
the  English  church  were  now  chiefly  directed. 
At  the  head  of  the  church  was  Archbishop 
Laud,  whose  determination  was  "  to  raise  the 
Church  of  England  to  what  he  conceived  to  be 
its  real  position  as  a  branch,  though  a  reformed 
branch,  of  the  great  Catholic  church  throughout 
the  world."  He  protested  alike  against  the  in- 
novations of  Rome  and  the  innovations  of 
Calvin.  In  his  view  the  Episcopal  succession 
was  the  essence  of  the  church ;  and,  therefore, 


JOHN  PYM.  31 

when  the  Lutheran  and  Calvanistic  churches  re- 
jected the  office  of  Bishop,  they  "ceased  to  be 
churches  at  all."  As  he  rejected  the  church  of 
the  reformers,  and  as  he  acknowledged  Rome 
as  a  true  branch  of  the  church,  he  drew  con- 
stantly nearer  to  Rome,  and  removed  further  and 
further  from  the  doctrines  of  the  Reformers. 
In  all  parts  of  England  ministers  who  refused 
to  conform  were  expelled  from  their  cures.  It 
was  this  aggressive  and  revolutionary  policy 
that  drove  thousands  of  Puritans  to  New 
England.  Three  thousand  emigrants  left  Eng- 
land in  a  single  year ;  and  during  the  period 
between  1629  and  1640  no  less  than  about 
twenty  thousand  Puritans  found  a  refuge  in  the 
New  World. 

In  Scotland  resistance  to  the  innovations  of 
Laud  took  a  more  active  turn.  Royal  procla- 
mation had  been  made,  reinstating  the  Episcopal 
forms;  but  when  the  Dean  of  Edinburgh 
opened  the  new  Prayer  Book,  a  murmur  of  dis- 
content ran  through  the  congregation,  and  a 
stool,  hurled  by  one  of  the  members,  felled  him 


32  JOHN  PYM. 

to  the  ground.  Petitions  for  the  removal  of  the 
Prayer  Book  were  showered  in  upon  the  court. 
Various  writers  were  dragged  before  the  Star 
Chamber  and  branded  as  "  trumpets  of  sedi- 
tion." To  a  petition  presented  by  the  Duke  of 
Hamilton  the  King  replied :  "  I  will  rather  die 
than  yield  to  these  impertinent  and  damnable 
demands."  Of  these  seething  discontents,  what 
is  sometimes  called  the  "  Bishops'  War "  was 
the  result.  The  King  was  determined  to  sup- 
press opposition  by  force  of  arms,  and  for  that 
purpose  he  committed  the  fatal  error  of  calling 
over  Strafford  from  Ireland.  Scotland  at  once 
arose  to  resist  him,  while  at  his  back  all  Eng- 
land was  at  the  point  of  revolt.  A  London 
mob  burst  into  the  Bishop's  palace  at  Lambeth, 
and  then  proceeded  to  break  up  the  sittings  of 
the  High  Commission  at  St.  Paul's.  Charles, 
finding  the  army  in  no  condition  to  cope  with 
the  discontents  of  the  time,  at  length,  with 
great  reluctance,  yielded  to  his  advisers,  and 
once  more  summoned  the  Houses  of  Parliament. 
In  April  of  1640,  the  newly-elected  members 


JOHN  PYM.  33 

came  together.  During  the  eleven  years  that 
had  elapsed  since  the  dismissal  of  the  Parlia- 
ment of  1629,  many  of  the  old  leaders  had 
passed  away.  Sir  Edward  Coke  and  Sir  Robert 
Philips  were  dead,  and  Eliot  had  perished  as  a 
martyr  in  prison.  But  in  the  meantime  a  new 
leader  had  appeared.  By  the  consent  of  all, 
that  distinction  was  now  held  by  John  Pym. 
This  gentleman,  now  fifty-four  years  of  age, 
had  been  the  companion  of  Eliot  in  the  third 
Parliament  of  Charles,  and,  next  to  Eliot  and 
Wentworth,  had  been  acknowledged  the  most 
effective  speaker  in  that  body.  But  in  the 
course  of  the  past  eleven  years  his  talents  and 
his  energy  had  caused  him  everywhere  to  be 
hailed  as  the  popular  leader.  He  was  a  gentle- 
man of  good  family,  a  graduate  of  Oxford,  and 
an  Episcopalian  in  religion.  His  influence  was 
probably  all  the  greater  because  he  did  not  be- 
long to  the  extreme  party.  We  are  told  that 
he  was  no  fanatic,  that  he  was  genial  and  even 
convivial  in  his  nature.  He  has  been  called  by 
Mr.  Forster  the  first  great  popular  organizer  in 


34  JOHN  PYM. 

English  politics.  In  company  with  Hampden 
he  rode  through  several  of  the  English  counties, 
as  Anthony  Wood  states,  "with  a  view  of  pro- 
moting elections  of  the  puritanical  brethren." 
He  urged  the  people  to  meet  and  send  petitions 
to  Parliament,  and  by  him  the  custom  of  pe- 
titioning was  first  organized  into  a  system. 
When  the  new  House  of  Commons  was  called 
to  order  every  one  looked  to  Pym  as  by  a  com- 
mon instinct  for  guidance. 

The  speech  with  which  Pym  responded  to 
this  expectation  is  doubtless  one  of  the  most 
remarkable  in  the  history  of  British  eloquence. 
It  abounds  in  passages  which,  for  weight  of 
argument  and  closeness  of  reasoning,  remind 
one  of  the  compositions  of  Lord  Bacon. 
Throughout  the  whole  there  is  a  precision  of 
statement,  and  a  gravity  of  manner  that  show 
plainly  enough  that  he  was  not  unconscious  of 
the  responsibility  that  rested  upon  him.  The 
speech  has  been  a  matter  of  general  comment 
with  all  the  historians  of  the  period,  for  there  is 
abundant  evidence  of  its  extraordinary  influ- 


JOHN  PYM.  35 

ence  on  Parliament  and  on  the  people  of  Eng- 
land. And  yet,  until  within  a  few  years,  no 
complete  copy  of  it  was  known  to  be  in  exis- 
tence. Several  mutilated  versions  were  pub- 
lished in  the  seventeenth  century,  but  these 
conveyed  a  very  imperfect  impression  of  its 
power.  Mr.  May,  the  historian  of  the  Long 
Parliament  says  that  "  Mr.  Pym,  a  grave  and 
religious  gentleman,  in  a  long  speech  of  almost 
two  hours,  recited  a  catalogue  of  grievances 
which  at  that  time  lay  heavy  on  the  common- 
wealth, of  which  many  abbreviated  copies,  as 
extracting  the  heads  only,  were  with  great 
greediness  taken  by  gentleman  and  others 
throughout  the  kingdom,  for  it  was  not  then 
the  fashion  to  print  speeches  in  Parliament." 
These  "  abbreviated  copies  "  "  of  heads  only," 
were  until  recently  supposed  to  be  the  only 
reports  of  the  speech  in  existence.  But  Mr. 
Forster,  when  writing  his  Life  of  Pym,  was  led 
to  institute  a  careful  search  among  the  world  of 
papers  in  the  British  Museum  ;  and  his  effort  was 
rewarded  with  success.  He  discovered  a  report 


36  JOHN  PYM. 

of  the  speech  with  corrections  by  Pym's  own 
hand.  This  version,  corrected  by  the  orator 
himself,  is  the  one  here  reproduced.  It  is  some- 
what abridged  by  Mr.  Forster;  and  the  report 
given  in  the  third  person  is  preserved.  In 
unabbreviated  form  it  has  never  been  published. 


JOHN  PYM. 


ON  THE  SUBJECT  OF  GRIEVANCES  IN    THE    REIGN    OF 

CHARLES   I.       HOUSE   OF   COMMONS. 

APRIL    5,    1640. 

After  an  interval  of  eleven  years  since  the  dissolution  of  the 
Third  Parliament  of  Charles  I.,  the  Fourth  or  Short  Parlia- 
ment was  opened  by  the  King  on  the  3d  of  April,  1640.  In 
his  opening  speech,  Charles  simply  said  :  "  My  Lords  and 
Gentlemen  :  There  never  was  a  king  that  had  a  more  great 
and  weighty  cause  to  call  his  people  together  than  myself :  I 
will  not  trouble  you  with  the  particulars.  I  have  informed 
my  Lord  Keeper,  and  command  him  to  speak,  and  desire 
your  attention."  After  this  short  and  ungracious  declaration, 
the  Lord  Keeper  proceeded  to  speak  in  a  very  lofty  and  absurd 
strain  in  regard  to  the  Royal  Prerogative,  and  ending  with  the 
admonition,  "that  his  Majesty  did  not  expect  advice  from 
them,  much  less  that  they  should  interfere  in  any  office  of 
mediation,  which  would  not  be  grateful  to  him  :  but  that  they 
should,  as  soon  as  might  be,  give  his  Majesty  a  supply,  and 
that  he  would  give  them  time  enough  afterwards  to  represent 
grievances  to  him." 

Two  days  later,  as  soon  as  Parliament  assembled,  a 
number  of  petitions  were  presented,  "complaining  of  ship- 
money  projects  and  monopolies,  the  star-chamber  and  high- 
commission  courts  and  other  grievances."  Between  the  con- 

37 


38  JOHN  PYM. 

sideration  of  these  petitions  and  deference  to  the  King's  request 
to  grant  supplies  at  once,  there  was  a  hesitation  ;  and  it  was  of 
this  sense  of  "divided  duty"  that  Pym  determined  to  avail 
himself.  Clarendon  says:  "Whilst  men  gazed  upon  each 
other,  looking  who  should  begin  (much  the  greater  part  having 
never  before  sat  in  Parliamenjt)  Mr.  Pym,  a  man  of  good  repu- 
tation, but  much  better  known  afterwards,  who  had  been  as 
long  in  these  assemblies  as  any  man  then  living,  broke  the  ice, 
and  in  a  set  discourse  of  about  two  hours,"  addressed  the 
House. 

Never  Parliament  had  greater  business  to  dis- 
patch, nor  more  difficulties  to  encounter  ;  there- 
fore we  have  reason  to  take  all  advantages  of 
order  and  address,  and  hereby  we  shall  not 
only  do  our  own  work,  but  dispose  and  inable 
ourselves  for  the  better  satisfaction  of  his 
Majesty's  desire  of  supply.  The  grievances 
being  removed,  our  affections  will  carry  us  with 
speed  and  cheerfulness,  to  give  his  Majesty  that 
which  may  be  sufficient  both  for  his  honor  and 
support.  Those  that  in  the  very  first  place 
shall  endeavor  to  redress  the  grievances,  will  be 
found  not  to  hinder,  but  to  be  the  best  fur- 
therers  of  his  Majesty's  service.  He  that  takes 
away  weights,  doth  as  much  advantage  mo- 
tion, as  he  that  addeth  wings.  Divers  pieces 
of  this  main  work  have  been  already  pro- 
pounded ;  his  endeavor  should  be  to  present  to 
the  House  a  model  of  the  whole.  In  the  crea- 


GRIEVANCES.  39 

tion,  God  made  the  world  according  to  that 
idea  or  form  which  was  eternally  preexistent  in 
the  Divine  mind.  Moses  was  commanded  to 
frame  the  tabernacle  after  the  pattern  showed 
him  in  the  mount.  Those  actions  are  seldom 
well  perfected  in  the  execution,  which  are  not 
first  well  moulded  in  the  design  and  propo- 
sition. 

He  said  he  would  labor  to  contract  those  mani- 
fold affairs  both  of  the  Church  and  State,  which 
did  so  earnestly  require  the  wisdom  and  faith- 
fulness of  this  House,  into  a  double  method  of 
grievances  and  cures.  And  because  there 
wanted  not  some  who  pretended  that  these 
things,  wherewith  the  commonwealth  is  now 
grieved,  are  much  for  the  advantage  of  the 
King,  and  that  the  redress  of  them  will  be  to 
his  Majesty's  great  disadvantage  and  loss,  he 
doubted  not  but  to  make  it  appear,  that  in  dis- 
covering the  present  great  distempers  and  dis- 
orders, and  procuring  remedy  for  them,  we 
should  be  no  less  serviceable  to  his  Majesty, 
who  hath  summoned  us  to  this  great  council 
than  useful  to  those  whom  we  do  here  repre- 
sent. For  the  better  effecting  whereof,  he  pro- 
pounded three  main  branches  of  his  discourse. 
In  the  first,  he  would  offer  them  the  several 


40  JOHN  P  YM. 

heads  of  some  principal  grievances,  under  which 
the  kingdom  groaned.  In  the  second,  he  un- 
dertook to  prove  that  the  disorders  from 
whence  those  grievances  issued,  were  as  hurt- 
ful to  the  King  as  to  the  people.  In  the 
third,  he  would  advise  such  a  way  of  healing, 
and  removing  those  grievances,  as  might  be 
equally  effectual  to  maintain  the  honor  and 
greatness  of  the  King,  and  to  procure  the  pros- 
perity and  contentment  of  the  people. 

In  the  handling  whereof  he  promised  to  use 
such  expressions  as  might  mitigate  the  sharp- 
ness and  bitterness  of  those  things  whereof  he 
was  to  speak,  so  far  as  his  duty  and  faithfulness 
would  allow.  It  is  a  great  prerogative  to  the 
King,  and  a  great  honor  attributed  to  him,  in  a 
maxim  of  our  law,  that  he  can  do  no  wrong ; 
he  is  the  fountain  of  justice  ;  and,  if  there  be 
any  injustice  in  the  execution  of  his  commands, 
the  law  casts  it  upon  the  ministers,  and  frees 
the  King. 

Activity,  life,  and  vigor  are  conveyed  into 
the  sublunary  creatures  by  the  influence  of 
heaven  ;  but  the  malignity  and  distemper,  the 
cause  of  so  many  epidemical  diseases,  do  pro- 
ceed from  the  noisome  vapors  of  the  earth,  or 
some  ill-affected  qualities  of  the  air,  without 


GRIEVANCES.  41 

any  infection  or  alteration  of  those  pure,  celes- 
tial, and  incorruptible  bodies.  In  the  like 
manner,  he  said,  the  authority,  the  power,  and 
countenance  of  princes,  may  concur  in  the  ac- 
tions of  evil  men,  without  partaking  in  the 
injustice  and  obliquity  of  them.  These  matters 
whereof  we  complain,  have  been  presented  to  his 
Majesty,  either  under  the  pretence  of  royal  pre- 
rogatives, which  he  is  bound  to  maintain,  or  of 
public  good,  which  is  the  most  honorable  object 
of  regal  wisdom.  But  the  covetous  and  am- 
bitious designs  of  others  have  interposed  betwixt 
his  royal  intentions  and  the  happiness  of  his 
people,  making  those  things  pernicious  and 
hurtful,  which  his  Majesty  apprehended  as  just 
and  profitable. 

He  said,  the  things  which  he  was  to  propound 
were  of  a  various  nature,  many  of  them  such 
as  required  a  very  tender  and  exquisite  con- 
sideration. In  handling  of  which,  as  he  would 
be  bold  to  use  the  liberty  of  the  place  and 
relation  wherein  he  stood,  so  he  would  be  very 
careful  to  express  that  modesty  and  humility 
which  might  be  expected  by  those  of  whose 
actions  he  was  to  speak.  And  if  his  judgment 
or  his  tongue  should  slip  into  any  particular 
mistake,  he  would  not  think  it  so  great  a  shame 


42  JOHN  PYM. 

to  fail  by  his  own  weakness  as  he  should  esteem 
it  an  honor  and  advantage  to  be  corrected  by 
the  wisdom  of  that  House  to  which  he  sub- 
mitted himself,  with  this  protestation,  that  he 
desired  no  reformation  as  much  as  to  reform 
himself. 

The  greatest  liberty  of  the  kingdom  is  re- 
ligion; thereby  we  are  freed  from  spiritual 
evils,  and  no  impositions  are  so  grievous  as 
those  that  are  laid  upon  the  soul. 

The  next  great  liberty  is  justice,  whereby  we 
are  preserved  from  injuries  in  our  persons  and 
and  estates  ;  from  this  is  derived  into  the  com- 
monwealth, peace,  and  order,  and  safety ;  and 
when  this  is  interrupted,  confusion  and  danger 
are  ready  to  overwhelm  all. 

The  third  great  liberty  consists  in  the  power 
and  privilege  of  parliaments ;  for  this  is  the 
fountain  of  law,  the  great  council  of  the  king- 
dom, the  highest  court ;  this  is  inabled  by  the 
legislative  and  conciliary  power,  to  prevent 
evils  to  come  ;  by  the  judiciary  power,  to  sup- 
press and  remove  evils  present.  If  you  con- 
sider these  three  great  liberties  in  the  order  of 
dignity,  this  last  is  inferior  to  the  other  two,  as 
means  are  inferior  to  the  end  ;  but,  if  you  con- 
sider them  in  the  order  of  necessity  and  use, 


GRIE  VANCES.  43 

this  may  justly  claim  the  first  place  in  our  care, 
because  the  end  cannot  be  obtained  without 
the  means  :  and  if  we  do  not  preserve  this,  we 
cannot  long  hope  to  enjoy  either  of  the  others. 
Therefore  being  to  speak  of  those  grievances 
which  lie  upon  the  kingdom,  he  would  observe 
this  order. 

i.  To  mention  those  which  were  against 
the  privilege  of  parliaments.  2.  Those  which 
were  prejudicial  to  the  religion  established  in 
the  kingdom.  3.  Those  which  did  .interrupt 
the  justice  of  the  realm  in  the  liberty  of  our 
persons  and  propriety  of  our  estates. 

The  privileges  of  Parliament  were  not  given 
for  the  ornament  or  advantage  of  those  who 
are  the  members  of  Parliament.1  °  They  have  a 
real  use  and  efficacy  toward  that  which  is  the 
end  of  parliaments.  We  are  free  from  suits 
that  we  may  the  more  entirely  addict  ourselves 
to  the  public  services ;  we  have,  therefore, 
liberty  of  speech,  that  our  counsels  may  not  be 
corrupted  with  fear,  or  our  judgments  perverted 
with  self  respects.  Those  three  great  faculties 
and  functions  of  Parliament,  the  legislative, 
judiciary,  and  conciliary  power,1 1  cannot  be  well 
exercised  without  such  privileges  as  these.  The 
wisdom  of  our  laws,  the  faithfulness  of  our 


44  JOHN  PYM. 

counsels,  the  righteousness  of  our  judgments, 
can  hardly  be  kept  pure  and  untainted  if  they 
proceed  from  distracted  and  restrained  minds.  , 

It  is  a  good  rule  of  the  moral  philosopher, — 
Et  non  l(zdas  mentem  gnbernatricem  omnium 
actionum.  These  powers  of  Parliament  are  to 
the  body  politic  as  the  rational  faculties  of  the 
soul  to  a  man  ;  that  which  keeps  all  the  parts 
of  the  commonwealth  in  frame  and  temper, 
ought  to  be  most  carefully  preserved  in  that 
freedom,  vigor,  and  activity,  which  belongs  to 
itself.  Our  predecessors  in  this  House  have 
ever  been  most  careful  in  the  first  place  to 
settle  and  secure  their  privileges ;  and  he 
hoped,  that  we,  having  had  greater  breaches 
made  upon  us  than  heretofore,  would  be  no  less 
tender  of  them,  and  forward  in  seeking  repara- 
tion for  that  which  is  past,  and  prevention  of 
the  like  for  the  time  to  come. 

Then  he  propounded  divers  particular  points 
wherein  the  privileges  of  Parliament  had  been 
broken.  First,  in  restraining  the  members  of 
the  House  from  speaking.  Secondly,  in  forbid- 
ding the  Speaker  to  put  any  question. 

These  two  were  practiced  the  last  day  of  the 
last  Parliament  (and,  as  was  alleged,  by  his 
Majesty's  command) ;  and  both  of  them  trench 


GRIE  VANCES.  45 

upon  the  very  life  and  being  of  parliaments; 
for  if  such  a  restraining  power  as  this  should 
take  root,  and  be  admitted,  it  will  be  impos- 
sible for  us  to  bring  any  resolution  to  perfection 
in  such  matters  as  shall  displease  those  about 
the  King.12 

Thirdly,  by  imprisoning  divers  members  of 
the  House,  for  matters  done  in  Parliament. 
Fourthly,  by  indictments,  informations,  and 
judgments  in  ordinary  and  inferior  courts,  for 
speeches  and  proceedings  in  parliaments. 
Fifthly,  by  the  disgraceful  order  of  the  King's 
bench,  whereby  some  members  of  this  House 
were  enjoined  to  put  in  security  of  their  good 
behaviour ;  and  for  refusal  thereof,  were  contin- 
ued in  prison  divers  years,  without  any  particu- 
lar allegation  against  them.  One  of  them 
was  freed  by  death.  Others  were  not  dismissed 
till  his  Majesty  had  declared  his  intention  to 
summon  the  present  Parliament.  And  this  he 
noted  not  only  as  a  breach  of  privilege,  but  as 
a  violation  of  the  common  justice  of  the  king- 
dom. Sixthly,  by  the  sudden  and  abrupt  dis- 
solution of  parliaments,  contrary  to  the  law  and 
custom. 

Often  hath  it  been  declared  in  parliaments, 
that  the  Parliament  should  not  be  dissolved, 


46  JOHN  PYM. 

till  the  petitions  be  answered.  This  (he  said) 
was  a  great  grievance  because  it  doth  prevent 
the  redress  of  other  grievances.  It  were  a  hard 
case  that  a  private  man  should  be  put  to  death 
without  being  heard.  As  this  representative 
body  of  the  Commons  receives  a  being  by  the 
summons,  so  it  receives  a  civil  death  by  the 
dissolution.  Is  it  not  a  much  more  heavy 
doom  by  which  we  lose  our  being,  to  have  this 
civil  death  inflicted  on  us  in  displeasure,  and 
not  to  be  allowed  time  and  liberty  to  answer 
for  ourselves  ?  That  we  should  not  only  die, 
but  have  this  mark  of  infamy  laid  upon  us  ?  to 
be  made  intestabiles,  disabled  to  make  our  wills, 
to  dispose  of  our  business,  as  this  House  hath 
always  used  to  do  before  adjournments  or  dis- 
solutions ?  Yet  this  hath  often  been  our  case  ! 
We  have  not  been  permitted  to  pour  out  our 
last  sighs  and  groans  into  the  bosom  of  our 
dear  sovereign.  The  words  of  dying  men  are 
full  of  piercing  affections  ;  if  we  might  be  heard 
to  speak,  no  doubt  we  should  so  fully  express 
our  love  and  faithfulness  to  our  prince,  as 
might  take  off  the  false  suggestions  and  asper- 
sions of  others ;  at  least  we  should  in  our 
humble  supplications  recommend  some  such 
things  to  him  in  the  name  of  his  people,  as 


GRIE  VANCES.  47 

would  make  for  his  own  honor,  and  the  public 
good  of  his  kingdom. 

Thus  he  concluded  the  first  sort  of  griev- 
ances, being  such  as  were  against  the  privilege 
of  Parliament,  and  passed  on  to  the  next,  con- 
cerning religion  ;  all  which  he  conveyed  under 
these  four  heads.  The  first,  was  the  great  en- 
couragement given  to  popery,  of  which  he  pro- 
duced these  particular  evidences.  I.  A  suspen- 
sion of  all  laws  against  papists,  whereby  they 
enjoy  a  free  and  almost  public  exercise  of 
that  religion.  Those  good  statutes  which  were 
made  for  restraint  of  idolatry  and  superstition, 
are  now  a  ground  of  security  to  them  in  the 
practice  of  both ;  being  used  to  no  other  end 
but  to  get  money  into  the  King's  purse  ;  which 
as  it  is  clearly  against  the  intentions  of  the  law, 
so  it  is  full  of  mischief  to  the  kingdom.  By 
this  means  a  dangerous  party  is  cherished  and 
increased,  who  are  ready  to  close  with  any  op- 
portunity of  disturbing  the  peace  and  safety  of 
the  State.  Yet  he  did  not  desire  any  new  laws 
against  popery,  or  any  rigorous  courses  in  the 
execution  of  those  already  in  force  ;  he  was  far 
from  seeking  the  ruin  of  their  persons  or 
estates ;  only  he  wished  they  might  be  kept 
in  such  a  condition  as  should  restrain  them  from 
doing  hurt.13 


48  JOHN  PYM. 

It  may  be  objected,  there  are  moderate  and 
discreet  men  amongst  them,  men  of  estates, 
such  as  have  an  interest  in  the  peace  and  pros- 
perity of  the  kingdom  as  well  as  we.  These  (he 
said)  were  not  to  be  considered  according  to 
their  own  disposition,  but  according  to  the 
nature  of  the  body  whereof  they  are  parties. 
The  planets  have  several  and  particular  motions 
of  their  own,  yet  they  are  all  rapt  and  tran- 
sported into  a  contrary  course  by  the  superior 
orb  which  comprehends  them  all.  The  prin- 
ciples of  popery  are  such  as  are  incompatible 
with  any  other  religion.  There  may  be  a  sus- 
pension of  violence  for  some  by  certain  respects ; 
but  the  ultimate  end  even  of  that  moderation 
is,  that  they  may  with  more  advantage  extirpate 
that  which  is  opposite  to  them.  Laws  will  not 
restrain  them.  Oaths  will  not.  The  Pope  can 
dispense  with  both  these,  and  where  there  is 
occasion,  his  command  will  move  them  to  the 
disturbance  of  the  realm — against  their  own 
private  disposition — yea,  against  their  own 
reason  and  judgement — to  obey  him  ;  to  whom 
they  have  (especially  the  Jesuitical  party)  abso- 
lutely and  entirely  obliged  themselves,  not  only 
in  spiritual  matters,  but  in  temporal,  as  they  are 
in  order  ad  spiritualia.  Henry  III.  and  Henry 


GRIEVANCES.  49 

IV.  of  France  were  no  Protestants  themselves, 
yet  were  murthered  because  they  tolerated  Prot- 
estants. The  King  and  the  kingdom  can  have 
no  security  but  in  their  weakness  and  disability 
to  do  hurt. 

2.  A  second  encouragement  is,  their  admis- 
sion into  places  of  power  and  trust  in  the  Com- 
monwealth, whereby  they  get  many  dependents 
and  adherents,  not  only  of  their  own,  but  even 
of  such  as  make  profession  to  be  Protestants. 

3.  A  third,  their  freedom  of  resorting  to  Lon- 
don and  the  court,  whereby  they  have  oppor- 
tunity, not  only  of  communicating  their  coun- 
sels and  designs,  one  to  another,  but  of  diving 
into  his  Majesty's  counsels,  by  the  frequent 
access  of   those  who  are  active  men  amongst 
them,  to  the  tables  and  company  of  great  men ; 
and  under  subtle  pretences  and  disguises  they 
want  not  means  of  cherishing  their  own  pro- 
jects, and  of   endeavoring  to  mould  and  bias 
the  public  affairs  to  the  great  advantage  of  that 
party. 

4.  A  fourth,  that   as   they  have   a   congre- 
gation of  cardinals  at  Rome,  to  consider  of  the 
aptest   ways   and   means   of    establishing   the 
Pope's  authority  and  religion  in  England,  so 
they  have  a  nuncio  here,  to  act  and  dispose 


50  JOHN  PYM. 

that  party  to  the  execution  of  those  counsels, 
and,  by  the  assistance  of  such  cunning  and 
Jesuitical  spirits  as  swarm  in  this  town,  to 
order  and  manage  all  actions  and  events,  to 
the  furtherance  of  that  main  end.14 

The  second  grievance  of  religion,  was  from 
those  manifold  innovations  lately  introduced 
into  several  parts  of  the  kingdom,  all  inclining  to 
popery,  and  disposing  and  fitting  men  to  enter- 
tain it.  The  particulars  were  these  :  I.  Divers 
of  the  chiefest  points  of  religion  in  difference 
betwixt  us  and  the  papists  have  been  publicly 
defended,  in  licensed  books,  in  sermons,  in  uni- 
versity acts  and  disputations.  2.  Divers  popish 
ceremonies  have  been  not  only  practised  but 
countenanced,  yea,  little  less  than  enjoined, 
as  altars,  images,  crucifixes,  bowings,  and  other 
gestures  and  observances,  which  put  upon  our 
churches  a  shape  and  face  of  popery.  He  com- 
pared this  to  the  dry  bones  in  Ezekiel.  First, 
they  came  together ;  then  the  sinews  and  the 
flesh  came  upon  them  ;  after  this  the  skin 
covered  them  ;  and  then  breath  and  life  was 
put  into  them  !  So  (he  said)  after  these  men 
had  moulded  us  into  an  outward  form  and 
visage  of  popery,  they  would  more  boldly  en- 
deavor to  breathe  into  us  the  spirit  of  life  and 
popery. 


GRIEVANCES.  51 

The  third  grievance  was  the  countenancing 
and  preferring  those  men  who  were  most  for- 
ward in  setting  up  such  innovations ;  the  par- 
ticulars were  so  well  known  that  they  needed 
not  to  be  named.15 

The  fourth  was,  the  discouragement  of 
those  who  were  known  to  be  most  conscionable 
and  faithful  professors  of  the  truth.  Some  of 
the  ways  of  effecting  this  he  observed  to  be 
these  :  i.  The  courses  taken  to  enforce  and  en- 
large those  unhappy  differences,  for  matters  of 
small  moment,  which  have  been  amongst  our- 
selves, and  to  raise  up  new  occasions  of  further 
division,  whereby  many  have  been  induced  to 
forsake  the  land,  not  seeing  the  end  of  those 
voluntary  and  human  injunctions  in  things  ap- 
pertaining to  God's  worship.  Those  who  are 
indeed  lovers  of  religion,  and  of  the  churches 
of  God,  would  seek  to  make  up  those  breaches, 
and  to  unite  us  more  entirely  against  the  com- 
mon enemy.  2.  The  over  rigid  prosecution  of 
those  who  are  scrupulous  in  using  some  things 
enjoined,  which  are  held  by  those  who  enjoin 
them,  to  be  in  themselves  indifferent.  It  hath 
been  ever  the  desire  of  this  House,  expressed 
in  many  parliaments  in  Queen  Elizabeth's  time 
and  since,  that  such  might  be  tenderly  used. 


52  JOHN  PYM. 

It  was  one  of  our  petitions  delivered  at  Oxford 
to  his  Majesty  that  now  is  ;  but  what  little 
moderation  it  hath  produced  is  not  unknown  to 
us  all !  Any  other  vice  almost  may  be  better 
endured  in  a  minister  than  inconformity.  3. 
The  unjust  punishments  and  vexations  of 
sundry  persons  for  matters  required  without 
any  warrant  of  law  :  as,  for  not  reading  the  book 
concerning  recreation  on  the  Lord's  day16; 
for  not  removing  the  communion  table  to  be 
set  altarwise  at  the  east  end  of  the  chancel ; 
for  not  coming  up  to  the  rails  to  receive  the 
sacrament  ;  for  preaching  the  Lord's  day  in 
the  afternoon  ;  for  catechising  in  any  other 
words  and  manner  than  in  the  precise  words 
of  the  short  catechism  in  the  common  prayer- 
book. 

The  fifth  and  last  grievance  concerning  re- 
ligion, was  the  encroachment  and  abuse  of 
ecclesiastical  jurisdiction.  The  particulars 
mentioned  were  these  :  I.  Fining  and  imprison- 
ing in  cases  not  allowed  by  law.  2.  The  chal- 
lenging their  jurisdiction  to  be  appropriate  to 
their  order,  which  they  allege  to  be  jure  divino. 
3.  The  contriving  and  publishing  of  new  articles, 
upon  which  they  force  the  churchwardens  to 
take  oaths,  and  to  make  inquiries  and  present- 


GRIEVANCES.  53 

ments,  as  if  such  articles  had  the  force  of  can- 
ons; and  this  was  an  effect  of  great  pre- 
sumption and  boldness,  not  only  in  the 
bishops,  but  in  the  archdeacons,  officials,  and 
chancellors,  taking  upon  themselves  a  kind  of 
synodal  authority.  The  injunctions  of  this 
kind  might,  indeed,  well  partake  in  name  with 
that  part  of  the  common  law  which  is  called  the 
extravagants  ! 

Having  despatched  these  several  points,  he 
proceeded  to  the  third  kind  of  grievances,  being 
such  as  are  against  the  common  justice  of  the 
realm,  in  the  liberty  of  our  persons,  and  pro- 
priety of  our  estates,  of  which  he  had  many 
to  propound :  in  doing  whereof,  he  would 
rather  observe  the  order  of  time,  wherein  they 
were  acted,  than  of  consequence  ;  but  when  he 
should  come  to  the  cure,  he  should  then  per- 
suade the  House  to  begin  with  those  which 
were  of  most  importance,  as  being  now  in  exe- 
cution, and  very  much  pressing  and  exhausting 
the  commonwealth. 

He  began  with  the  tonnage  and  poundage  and 
other  impositions  not  warranted  by  law ;  and 
because  these  burdens  had  long  lain  upon  us, 
and  the  principles  which  produced  them  are  the 
same  from  whence  divers  others  are  derived,  he 


54  JOHN  PYM. 

thought  it  necessary  to  premise  a  short  narra- 
tive and  relation  of  the  grounds  and  proceed- 
ings of  the  power  of  imposing  herein  prac- 
tised.17 It  was  a  fundamental  truth,  essential 
to  the  constitution  and  government  of  this 
kingdom — an  hereditary  liberty  and  privilege 
of  all  the  freeborn  subjects  of  the  land — that  no 
tax,  tallage,  or  other  charge  might  be  laid  upon 
us,  without  common  consent  in  Parliament. 
This  was  acknowledged  by  the  Conquerro ; 
ratified  in  that  contract  which  he  made  with 
this  nation,  upon  his  admittance  to  the  king- 
dom ;  declared  and  confirmed  in  the  laws  which 
he  published.  This  hath  never  been  denied  by 
any  of  our  kings — though  broken  and  inter- 
rupted by  some  of  them,  especially  by  King 
John  and  Henry  III.  Then,  again,  it  was  con- 
firmed by  Mag.  Chart.,  and  other  succeeding 
laws ;  yet  not  so  well  settled  but  that  it  was 
sometime  attempted  by  the  two  succeeding 
Edwards,  in  whose  times  the  subjects  were 
very  sensible  of  all  the  breaches  made  upon  the 
common  liberty,  and,  by  the  opportunity  of 
frequent  parliaments,  pursued  them  with  fresh 
complaints,  and  for  the  most  part  found  redress, 
and  procured  the  right  of  the  subject  to  be 
fortified  by  new  statutes. 


GRIEVANCES.  55 

He  observed  that  those  kings,  even  in  the 
acts  whereby  they  did  break  the  law,  did  really 
affirm  the  subject's  liberty,  and  disclaim  that 
right  of  imposing  which  is  now  challenged :  for 
they  did  usually  procure  the  merchants'  con- 
sent to  such  taxes  as  were  laid,  thereby  to  put 
a  color  of  justice  upon  their  proceeding ;  and 
ordinarily  they  were  limited  to  a  short  time,  and 
then  propounded  to  the  ratification  of  the  Par- 
liament, where  they  were  cancelled  or  con- 
firmed, as  the  necessity  and  state  of  the  king- 
dom did  require.  But  for  the  most  part  such 
charges  upon  merchandise  were  taken  by  au- 
thority of  Parliament,  and  granted  for  some 
short  time,  in  a  greater  or  lesser  proportion,  as 
was  requisite  for  supply  of  the  public  occasions 
— six  or  twelve  in  the  pound,  for  one,  two  or 
three  years,  as  they  saw  cause  to  be  employed 
for  the  defence  of  the  sea :  and  it  was  acknowl- 
edged so  clearly  to  be  in  the  power  of  Parlia- 
ment, that  they  have  sometimes  been  granted 
to  noblemen,  and  sometimes  to  merchants,  to 
be  disposed  for  that  use.  Afterward  they  were 
granted  to  the  King  for  life,  and  so  continued 
for  divers  descents,  yet  still  as  a  gift  and  grant 
of  the  Commons. 

Betwixt  the  time  of  Edward  III.  and  Queen 


56  JOHN  PYM, 

Mary,  never  prince  (that  he  could  remember) 
offered  to  demand  any  imposition  but  by  grant 
in  Parliament.  Queen  Mary  laid  a  charge 
upon  cloth,  by  the  equity  of  the  statute  of  ton- 
nage and  poundage,  because  the  rate  set  upon 
wool  was  much  more  than  upon  cloth  ;  and, 
there  being  little  wool  carried  out  of  the  king- 
dom unwrought,  the  Queen  thought  she  had 
reason  to  lay  on  somewhat  more  ;  yet  not  full 
so  much  as  brought  them  to  an  equality,  but 
that  still  there  continued  a  less  charge  upon 
wool  wrought  into  cloth,  than  upon  wool  car- 
ried out  unwrought ;  until  King  James'  time 
when  upon  Nicholson's  project,  there  was  a 
further  addition  of  charge,  but  still  upon  pre- 
tence of  the  statute,  which  is  that  we  call  the 
pretermitted  custom. 

In  Queen  Elizabeth's  time,  it  is  true,  one  or 
two  little  impositions  crept  in,  the  general  pros- 
perity of  her  reign  overshadowing  small  errors 
and  innovations.  One  of  these  was  upon  cur- 
rants, by  occasion  of  the  merchants'  complaints 
that  the  Venetians  had  laid  a  charge  upon  the 
English  cloth,  that  so  we  might  be  even  with 
them,  and  force  them  the  sooner  to  take  it  off. 
But  this  being  demanded  by  King  James,  was 
denied  by  one  Bates,  a  merchant,  and  upon  a 


GRIEVANCES.  57 

suit  in  the  exchecquer,  was  adjudged  for 
King.  Now  the  manner  of  that  judgment  was  ,, 
thus:  There  were  then  but  three  judges  in'* 
that  court,  all  differing  from  one  another  in  the 
grounds  of  their  sentences.  The  first  was  of 
opinion,  the  King  might  impose  upon  such  com- 
modities as  were  foreign  and  superfluous,  as 
currants  were,  but  not  upon  such  as  were  na- 
tive and  to  be  transported,  or  necessary,  and  to 
be  imported  for  the  use  of  the  kingdom.  The 
second  judge  was  of  opinion,  he  might  impose 
upon  all  foreign  merchandise,  whether  super- 
fluous or  no,  but  not  upon  native.  The  third, 
that  for  as  much  as  the  King  had  the  custody 
of  the  ports,  and  the  guard  of  the  seas,  and 
that  he  might  open  and  shut  up  the  ports  as  he 
pleased,  he  had  a  prerogative  to  impose  upon 
all  merchandise,  both  exported  and  imported. 
Yet  this  single,  distracted,  and  divided  judg- 
ment, is  the  foundation  of  all  the  impositions 
now  in  practice  ;  for,  after  this,  King  James 
laid  new  charges  upon  all  commodities  outward 
and  inward,  not  limited  to  a  certain  time  and 
occasion,  but  reserved  to  himself,  his  heirs  and 
successors,  forever, — the  first  impositions  in  fee- 
simple  that  were  ever  heard  of  in  this  kingdom. 
This  judgment,  and  the  right  of  imposing  there- 


58  JOHN  PYM. 


^  assumed,  was  questioned  m  septimo  and 

••j-  -duodecimo18  of  that  king,  and  was  the  cause 
of  the  breach  of  both  those  parliaments.  In 
1  8  and  21  Jacobi,  indeed,  it  was  not  agitated  by 
this  House,  but  only  that  they  might  preserve 
the  favor  of  the  king,  for  the  despatch  of  some 
other  great  businesses,  upon  which  they  were 
more  especially  attentive.19  But  in  the  first  of 
his  present  Majesty,  it  necessarily  came  to  be 
remembered,  upon  the  proposition  on  the 
King's  part,  for  renewing  the  bill  of  tonnage 
and  poundage  ;  yet  so  moderate  was  that  Par- 
liament, that  they  thought  rather  to  confirm 
the  impositions  already  set  by  a  law  to  be 
made,  than  to  abolish  them  by  a  judgment  in 
Parliament  ;  but  that  and  divers  ensuing  parlia- 
ments have  been  unhappily  broken,  before  that 
endeavor  could  be  accomplished  :  only  at  the 
last  meeting  a  remonstrance  was  made  concern- 
ing the  liberty  of  the  subject  in  this  point  ;  and 
it  hath  always  been  expressed  to  be  the  mean- 
ing of  the  House,  and  so  it  was  (as  he  said)  his 
own  meaning  in  the  proposition  now  made,  to 
settle  and  restore  the  right  according  to  law, 
and  not  to  diminish  the  king's  profit,  but  to  es- 
tablish it  by  a  free  grant  in  Parliament. 

However,  since  the  breach  of  the  last  Parlia- 


GRIEVANCES.  59 

ment,  his  majesty  hath,  by  a  new  book  of  rates, 
very  much  increased  the  burden  upon  merchan- 
dise, and  now  tonnage  and  poundage,  old  and 
new  impositions,  are  all  taken  by  prerogative, 
without  any  grant  in  Parliament,  or  authority 
of  law,  as  we  conceive  ;  from  whence  divers  in- 
conveniences and  mischiefs  are  produced.  I. 
The  danger  of  the  precedent,  that  a  judgment 
in  one  court,  and  in  one  case,  is  made  binding 
to  all  the  kingdom.  2.  Men's  goods  are  seized, 
their  legal  suits  are  stopped,  and  justice  denied 
to  those  that  desire  to  take  the  benefit  of  the 
law.  3.  The  great  sums  of  money  received  upon 
these  impositions,  intended  for  the  guard  of 
the  seas,  claimed  and  defended  upon  no  ground 
but  of  public  trust,  for  protection  of  merchants 
and  defence  of  the  ports,  are  dispersed  to  other 
uses,  and  a  new  tax  raised  for  the  same  pur- 
poses. 4.  These  burdens  are  so  excessive,  that 
trade  is  thereby  very  much  hindered,  the  com- 
modities of  our  own  growth  extremely  abased, 
and  those  imported  much  enhanced  ;  all  which 
lies  not  upon  the  merchant  alone,  but  upon  the 
generality  of  the  subject ;  and  by  this  means 
the  stock  of  the  kingdom  is  much  diminished, 
our  exportation  being  less  profitable,  and  our 
importation  more  changeable.  And  if  the  wars 


60  JOHN  PYM. 

and  troubles  in  the  neighbor  parts  had  not 
brought  almost  the  whole  stream  of  trade  into 
this  kingdom,  we  should  have  found  many  more 
prejudical  effects  of  these  impositions,  long  be- 
fore this  time,  than  yet  we  have  done.  Espe- 
cially they  have  been  insupportable  to  the  poor 
plantations,  whither  many  of  his  Majesty's  sub- 
jects have  been  transported,  in  divers  parts  of 
the  continent  and  islands  of  America,  in  further- 
ance of  a  design  tending  to  the  honor  of  the 
kingdom,  and  the  enlargement  of  his  Majesty's 
dominions.  The  adventurers  in  this  noble 
work  have  for  the  most  part  no  other  support 
but  tobacco,  upon  which  such  a  heavy  rate  is 
set,  that  the  King  receives  twice  as  much  as  the 
true  value  of  the  commodity  to  the  owner.  5. 
Whereas  these  great  burdens  have  caused 
divers  merchants  to  apply  themselves  to  a  way 
of  traffic  abroad  by  transporting  goods  from 
one  country  to  another,  without  bringing  them 
home  into  England.  But  now  it  hath  been 
lately  endeavored  to  set  an  imposition  upon 
this  trade,  so  that  the  King  will  have  a  duty 
even  out  of  those  commodities  which  never 
come  within  his  dominions,  to  the  great  dis- 
couragement of  such  active  and  industrious 
men. 


GRIEVANCES.  6 1 

The  next  general  head  of  civil  grievances, 
was  enforcing  men  to  compound  for  knight- 
hood ;  which  though  it  may  seem  past,  because 
it  is  divers  years  since  it  was  used,  yet  upon 
the  same  grounds  the  King  may  renew  it,  as 
often  as  he  pleaseth,  for  the  composition  looks 
backward,  and  the  offence  continuing,  is  sub- 
ject to  a  new  fine.  The  state  of  that  business 
he  laid  down  thus  :  Heretofore,  when  the  ser- 
vices due  by  tenure  were  taken  in  kind,  it  were 
fit  there  were  some  way  of  trial  and  approba- 
tion of  those  that  were  bound  to  such  services. 
Therefore,  it  was  ordained,  that  such  as  were  to 
do  knight's  services,  after  they  came  of  age, 
and  had  possession  of  their  lands,  should  be 
made  knights ;  that  is,  publicly  declared  to  be 
fit  for  that  service  : — divers  ceremonies  and  sol- 
emnities were  in  use  for  this  purpose ;  and  if 
by  the  party's  neglect  this  was  not  done,  he 
was  punishable  by  fine ;  there  being  in  those 
times  an  ordinary  and  open  way  to  get  knight- 
hood, for  those  who  were  born  to  it.  Now  it  is 
quite  true,  that  although  the  use  of  this  hath 
for  divers  ages  been  discontinued,  yet  there 
have  passed  very  few  kings  under  whom  there 
hath  not  been  a  general  summons,  requiring 
those  who  had  lands  of  such  value  as  the  law 


62  JOHN  PYM. 

prescribes,  to  appear  at  the  coronation,  or  some 
other  great  solemnity,  and  to  be  knighted,  and 
yet  nothing  intended  but  the  getting  of  some 
small  fines.  So  this  grievance  is  not  altogether 
new  in  the  kind  ;  but  it  is  new  in  the  manner, 
and  in  the  excess  of  it,  and  that  in  divers 
respects.  I.  First,  it  hath  been  extended  be- 
yond all  intention  and  color  of  law.  Not  only 
inn-holders,  but  likewise  leaseholders,  copyhold- 
ers, merchants,  and  others ;  scarce  any  man 
free  from  it.  2.  The  fines  have  been  immoder- 
ate, far  beyond  the  proportion  of  former 
times.20  3.  The  proportion  has  been  without 
any  example,  precedent,  or  rule  of  justice.  For 
though  those  that  were  summoned  did  appear, 
yet  distresses  infinite  were  made  out  against 
them,  and  issues  increased  and  multiplied,  and 
no  way  open  to  discharge  those  issues,  by  plea 
or  otherwise,  but  only  by  compounding  with 
the  commissioners  at  their  own  pleasure. 

The  third  general  head  of  civil  grievances  was, 
the  great  inundation  of  monopolies  •  whereby 
heavy  burthens  are  laid,  not  only  upon  foreign, 
but  also  native  commodities.  These  began  in 
the  soap  patent.  The  principal  undertakers  in 
this  were  divers  Popish  recusants,  men  of  estate 
and  quality,  such  as  in  likelihood  did  not  only 


GR1E  VANCES.  63 

aim  at  their  private  gain,  but  that  by  this  open 
breach  of  law,  the  King  and  his  people  might 
be  more  fully  divided,  and  the  ways  of  Par- 
liament men  more  thoroughly  obstructed. 
Amongst  the  infinite  inconveniences  and  mis- 
chiefs which  this  did  produce,  these  few  may 
be  observed:  I.  The  impairing  the  goodness, 
and  enhancing  the  price  of  most  of  the  commo- 
dities and  manufactures  of  the  realm,  yea,  of 
those  which  are  of  most  necessary  and  common 
use,  as  salt,  soap,  beer,  coals,  and  infinite  others. 
2.  That,  under  color  of  licenses,  trades  and 
manufactures  are  restrained  to  a  few  hands,  and 
many  of  the  subjects  deprived  of  their  ordi- 
nary way  of  livelihood.  3.  That,  upon  such  il- 
legal grants,  a  great  number  of  persons  had 
been  unjustly  vexed  by  pursuivants,  imprison- 
ments, attendance  upon  the  council  table,  for- 
feiture of  goods,  and  many  other  ways. 

The  fourth  head  of  civil  grievances  was  that 
great  and  unparalleled  grievance  of  the  ship 
money,  which,  though  it  may  seem  to  have 
more  warrant  of  law  than  the  rest,  because 
there  hath  a  judgment  passed  for  it,  yet  in 
truth  it  is  thereby  aggravated,  if  it  be  consid- 
ered that  the  judgment  is  founded  upon  the 
naked  opinion  of  some  judges  without  any 


64  JOHN  PYM. 

written  law,  without  any  custom,  or  authority 
of  law  books,  yea,  without  any  one  precedent 
for  it.21  Many  express  laws,  many  declarations 
in  parliaments,  and  the  constant  practice  and 
judgment  at  all  times  being  against  it !  Yea, 
in  the  very  nature  of  it,  it  will  be  found  to  be 
disproportionable  to  the  case  of  "  necessity " 
which  is  pretended  to  be  the  ground  of  it! 
Necessity  excludes  all  formalities  and  solemni- 
ties. It  is  no  time  then  to  make  levies  and 
taxes  to  build  and  prepare  ships.  Every  man's 
person,  every  man's  ships  are  to  be  employed 
for  the  resisting  of  an  invading  enemy.  The 
right  on  the  subject's  part  was  so  clear,  and  the 
pretences  against  it  so  weak,  that  he  thought 
no  man  would  venture  his  reputation  or  con- 
science in  the  defence  of  that  judgment,  being 
so  contrary  to  the  grounds  of  the  law,  to  the 
practice  of  former  times,  and  so  inconsistent  in 
itself. 

Amongst  many  inconveniences  and  obliqui- 
ties of  this  grievance,  he  noted  these :  i.  That 
it  extendeth  to  all  persons,  and  to  all  times ;  it 
subjecteth  our  goods  to  distress,  and  our  per- 
sons to  imprisonment;  and,  the  causes  of  it 
being  secret  and  invisible,  referred  to  his 
Majesty's  breast  alone,  the  subject  was  left 


GRIE  VANCES.  65 

without  possibility  of  exception  and  relief.  2. 
That  there  were  no  rules  or  limits  for  the  pro- 
portion ;  so  that  no  man  knew  what  estate  he 
had,  or  how  to  order  his  course  or  expenses. 
3.  That  it  was  taken  out  of  the  subject's  purse 
by  a  writ,  and  brought  into  the  King's  coffers 
by  instructions  from  the  lords  of  his  most  hon- 
orable privy  council.  Now,  in  the  legal  defence 
of  it,  the  writ  only  did  appear;  of  the  instruc- 
tions there  was  no  notice  taken,  which  yet  in 
the  real  execution  of  it  were  most  predominant. 
It  carries  the  face  of  service  in  the  writ,  and  of 
revenue  in  the  instructions.  Why,  if  this  way 
had  not  been  found  to  turn  the  ship  into  money, 
it  would  easily  have  appeared  how  incompati- 
ble this  service  is  with  the  office  of  a  sheriff,  in 
the  inland  counties ;  and  how  incongruous  and 
inconvenient  for  the  inhabitants  !  The  law  in  a 
body  politic  is  like  nature,  which  always  pre- 
pareth  and  disposeth  proper  and  fit  instruments 
and  organs  for  every  natural  operation.  If  the 
law  had  intended  any  such  charge  as  this,  there 
should  have  been  certain  rules,  suitable  means, 
and  courses,  for  the  levying  and  managing  of  it. 
The  fifth  head  was  the  enlargement  of  the 
forests  beyond  the  bounds  and  perambulations3  2 
appointed  and  established  by  act  of  Parliament, 


66  JOHN  PYM. 

27  and  28  Edward  I. ;  and  this  is  done  upon  the 
very  reasons  and  exceptions  which  had  been  on 
the  King's  part  propounded,  and  by  the  Com- 
mons answered,  in  Parliament,  not  long  after 
that  establishment.  It  is  not  unknown  to 
many  in  this  House  that  those  perambulations 
were  the  fruit  and  effect  of  that  famous  charter 
which  is  called  "  Charta  de  Forresta,"  whereby 
many  tumults,  troubles,  and  discontents  had 
been  taken  away,  and  composed  between  the 
King  and  his  subjects  ;  and  it  is  full  of  danger, 
that  by  reviving  those  old  questions,  we  may 
fall  into  the  like  distempers.  Hereby,  however, 
no  blame  could  fall  upon  that  great  lord,  who 
is  now  justice  in  Eyre,  and  in  whose  name 
these  things  were  acted  ;  it  could  not  be  ex- 
pected that  he  should  take  notice  of  the  laws 
and  customs  of  the  realm  ;  therefore  he  was 
careful  to  procure  the  assistance  and  direction 
of  the  judges  ;  and  if  any  thing  were  done 
against  lav/,  it  was  for  them  to  answer,  and  not 
for  him. 

The  particular  irregularities  and  obliquities 
of  this  business  were  these: — I.  The  surrepti- 
tious procuring  a  verdict  for  the  King  ;  without 
giving  notice  to  the  country  whereby  they 
might  be  prepared  to  give  in  evidence  for  their 


GRIEVANCES.  6? 

own  interest  and  indemnity,  as  was  done  in 
Essex.  2.  Whereas  the  judges  in  the  justice 
seat  in  Essex  were  consulted  with  about  the 
entry  of  the  former  verdict,  and  delivered  their 
opinion  touching  that  alone,  without  meddling 
with  the  point  of  right ;  this  opinion  was  after 
enforced  in  other  counties  as  if  it  had  been  a 
judgment  upon  the  matter,  and  the  council  for 
the  county  discountenanced  in  speaking,  be- 
cause it  was  said  to  be  already  adjudged.  3. 
The  inheritance  of  divers  of  the  subjects  have 
been  hereupon  disturbed,  after  the  quiet  pos- 
session of  three  or  four  hundred  years,  and  a 
way  opened  for  the  disturbance  of  many  others. 
4.  Great  sums  of  money  have  been  drawn  from 
such  as  have  lands  within  these  pretended 
bounds,  and  those  who  have  forborne  to  make 
composition  have  been  threatened  with  the  exe- 
cution of  these  forest  laws.  5.  The  fifth  was  the 
selling  of  nuisances,  or  at  least  some  such  things 
as  are  supposed  to  be  nuisances.  The  King,  as 
father  of  the  commonwealth,  is  to  take  care  of 
the  public  commodities  and  advantages  of  his 
subjects,  as  rivers,  highways,  common  sewers, 
and  suchlike,  and  is  to  remove  whatsoever  is  pre- 
judicial to  them  ;  and  for  the  trial  of  those  there 
are  legal  and  ordinary  writs  of  ad  quod  damnum  ; 


68  JOHN  PYM. 

but  of  late  a  new  and  extrajudicial  way  hath 
been  taken,  of  declaring  matters  to  be  nuisances ; 
and  divers  have  thereupon  been  questioned,  and 
if  they  would  not  compound,  they  have  been 
fined  ;  if  they  do  compound,  that  which  was  first 
prosecuted  as  a  common  nuisance  is  taken  into 
the  King's  protection  and  allowed  to  stand  ; 
and  having  yielded  the  King  money,  no  further 
care  is  taken  whether  it  be  good  or  bad  for  the 
commonwealth.  By  this  a  very  great  and  pub- 
lic trust  is  either  broken  or  abused.  If  the 
matter  compounded  for  be  truly  a  nuisance, 
then  it  is  broken  to  the  hurt  of  the  people  ;  if 
it  be  not  a  nuisance,  then  it  is  abused  to  the 
hurt  of  the  party.  The  particulars  mentioned 
were : — First,  the  commission  for  buildings  in 
and  about  this  town,  which  heretofore  hath 
been  presented  by  this  House  as  a  grievance  in 
King  James'  time,  but  now  of  late  the  execu- 
tion hath  been  much  more  frequent  and  preju- 
dicial than  it  was  before.  Secondly,  commis- 
sion for  depopulation, 22a  which  began  some  few 
years  since,  and  is  still  in  hot  prosecution.  By 
both  these  the  subject  is  restrained  from  dispos- 
ing of  his  own.  Some  have  been  commanded  to 
demolish  their  houses  ;  others  have  been  for- 
bidden to  build  ;  others,  after  great  trouble  and 


GRIEVANCES.  69 

vexation,  have  been  forced  to  redeem  their 
peace  with  large  sums,  and  they  still  remain,  by 
law,  as  liable  to  a  new  question  as  before ;  for 
it  is  agreed  by  all  that  the  King  cannot  license 
a  common  nuisance  ;  and  although  indeed  these 
are  not  such,  yet  it  is  a  matter  of  very  ill  con- 
sequence that,  under  that  name,  they  should  be 
compounded  for,  and  may  in  ill  times  hereafter 
be  made  a  precedent  for  the  Kings  of  this  realm 
to  claim  a  power  of  licensing  such  things  as  are 
nuisances  indeed.33 

The  seventh  great  civil  grievance  hath  been, 
the  military  charges  laid  upon  the  several 
counties  of  the  kingdom  ;  sometimes  by  war- 
rant under  his  Majesty's  signature,  sometimes 
by  letters  from  the  council  table,  and  sometimes 
(such  had  been  the  boldness  and  presumption 
of  some  men),  by  the  order  of  the  Lord  Lieu- 
tenants, or  deputy-lieutenant  alone.  This  is  a 
growing  evil;  still  multiplying  and  increasing 
from  a  few  particulars  to  many,  from  small 
sums  to  great.  It  began  first  to  be  practised 
as  a  loan,  for  supply  of  coat  and  conduct 
money ;  and  for  this  it  hath  some  countenance 
from  the  use  in  Queen  Elizabeth's  time,  when 
the  lords  of  the  council  did  often  desire  the 
deputy-lieutenants  to  procure  so  much  money 


70  JOHN  PYM. 

to  be  laid  out  in  the  country  as  the  service  did 
require,  with  a  promise  to  pay  it  again  in  Lon- 
don \  for  which  purpose  there  was  a  constant 
warrant  in  the  exchequer.  This  was  the 
practice  in  her  time,  and  in  a  great  part  of 
King  James'.  But  the  payments  were  then  so 
certain,  as  it  was  little  otherwise  than  taking  up 
money  upon  bills  of  exchange.  At  this  day 
they  follow  these  precedents  in  the  manner  of 
the  demand  (for  it  is  with  a  promise  of  a  re- 
payment), but  not  in  the  certainty  and  readi- 
ness of  satisfaction. 

The  first  particular  brought  into  a  tax  (as  he 
thought)  was  the  muster  master's  wages,  at 
which  many  repined  ;  but  being  for  small  sums, 
it  began  to  be  generally  digested ;  yet,  in  the 
last  Parliament,  this  House  was  sensible  of  it, 
and  to  avoid  the  danger  of  the  precedent  that 
the  subjects  should  be  forced  to  make  any  pay- 
ments without  consent  in  Parliament,  they 
thought  upon  a  bill  that  might  be  a  rule  to  the 
lieutenants  what  to  demand,  and  to  the  people 
what  to  pay.  But  the  hopes  of  this  bill  were 
dashed  in  the  dissolution  of  that  Parliament. 
Now  of  late  divers  other  particulars  are  grow- 
ing into  practise,  which  make  the  grievance 
much  more  heavy.  Those  mentioned  were 


GRIEVANCES.  Jl 

these:  I.  Pressing  men  against  their  will,  and 
forcing  them  which  are  rich  or  unwilling  to 
serve,  to  find  others  in  their  place.  2.  The 
provision  of  public  magazines  for  powder,  and 
other  munition,  spades  and  pickaxes.  3.  The 
salary  of  divers  officers  besides  the  muster  mas- 
ter. 4.  The  buying  of  cart-horses  and  carts, 
and  hiring  of  carts  for  carriages. 

The  eighth  head  of  civil  grievances  was  the 
extrajudicial  declarations  of  judges,  whereby 
the  subjects  have  been  bound  in  matters  of 
great  importance  without  hearing  of  counsel  or 
argument  on  their  part,  and  are  left  without 
legal  remedy,  by  writ  of  error  or  otherwise.  He 
remembered  the  expression  used  by  a  former 
member  of  the  House,  of  a  "  teeming  parlia- 
ment." This,  he  said,  was  a  teeming  grievance  ; 
from  hence  have  issued  most  of  the  great 
grievances  now  in  being.  The  ship-money — the 
pretended  nuisances  already  mentioned — and 
some  others  which  have  not  yet  been  touched 
upon, — especially  that  concerning  the  proceed- 
ings of  ecclesiastical  courts. 

The  ninth  general  head  was — that  the  au- 
thority and  wisdom  of  the  council  table  have 
been  applied  to  the  contriving  and  managing 
of  several  monopolies,  and  other  great  griev- 


72  JOHN  PYM. 

ances.  The  institution  of  the  council-table  was 
much  for  the  advantage  and  security  of  the 
subject,  to  avoid  surreptitious  and  precipitate 
courts  in  the  great  affairs  of  the  kingdom.  But 
by  law  an  oath  should  be  taken  by  all  those  of 
the  King's  council,  in  which,  amongst  other 
things  it  is  expressed  that  they  should  for  no 
cause  forbear  to  do  right  to  all  the  King's 
people.  If  such  an  oath  be  not  now  taken,  he 
wished  it  might  be  brought  into  use  again. 

It  was  the  honor  of  that  table,  to  be,  as  it 
were,  incorporated  with  the  King ;  his  royal 
power  and  greatness  did  shine  most  conspicu- 
ously in  their  actions  and  in  their  counsels. 
We  have  heard  of  projectors  and  referees  here- 
tofore ;  and  what  opinion  and  relish  they  have 
found  in  this  House  is  not  unknown.2  4  But  that 
any  such  thing  should  be  acted  by  the  council- 
table  which  might  give  strength  and  counte- 
nance to  monopolies,  as  it  hath  not  been  used 
till  now  of  late,  so  it  cannot  be  apprehended 
without  the  just  grief  of  the  honest  subject,  and 
encouragement  of  those  who  are  ill  affected. 
He  remembered  that  in  tertio  of  this  king,  a 
noble  gentleman,  then  a  very  worthy  member 
of  the  Commons'  House,  now  a  great  lord  and 
eminent  counsellor  of  State,  did  in  this  place 


GRIEVANCES.  73 

declare  an  opinion  concerning  that  clause  used 
to  be  inserted  in  patents  of  monopoly,  whereby 
justices  of  peace  are  commanded  to  assist 
the  patentees ;  and  that  he  urged  it  to  be  a 
great  dishonor  to  those  gentlemen  which  are  in 
commission  to  be  so  meanly  employed — with 
how  much  more  reason  may  we,  in  jealousy  of 
the  honor  of  the  council-table,  humbly  desire 
that  their  precious  time,  their  great  abilities, 
designed  to  the  public  care  and  service  of  the 
kingdom,  may  not  receive  such  a  stain,  such  a 
diminution  as  to  be  employed  in  matters  of  so 
ill  report,  in  the  estimation  of  the  law  ;  of  so  ill 
effect  in  the  apprehension  of  the  people ! 

The  tenth  head  of  civil  grievances  was  com- 
prised in  the  high  court  of  star  chamber,  which 
some  think  succeeded  that  which  in  the  parlia- 
ment rolls  is  called  magnum  concilium,  and  to 
which  parliaments  were  wont  so  often  to  refer 
those  important  matters  which  they  had  no 
time  to  determine.  But  now  this  court,  which 
in  the  late  restoration  or  erection  of  it  in  Henry 
VII. 's  time,  was  especially  designed  to  restrain 
the  oppression  of  great  men,  and  to  remove  the 
obstructions  and  impediments  of  the  law, — this, 
which  is  both  a  court  of  counsel  and  a  court  of 
justice — hath  been  made  an  instrument  of 


74  JOHN  PYM. 

erecting  and  defending  monopolies  and  other 
grievances  ;  to  set  a  face  of  right  upon  those 
things  which  are  unlawful  in  their  own  nature ; 
a  face  of  public  good  upon  such  as  are  pernicious 
in  their  use  and  execution.  The  soap-patent 
and  divers  other  evidences  thereof  may  be 
given,  so  well  known  as  not  to  require  a  particu- 
lar relation.  And  as  if  this  were  not  enough, 
this  court  hath  lately  intermeddled  with  the 
ship  money !  divers  sheriffs  have  been  ques- 
tioned for  not  levying  and  collecting  such  sums 
as  their  counties  have  been  charged  with  ;  and 
if  this  beginning  be  not  prevented,  the  star 
chamber  will  become  a  court  of  revenue,  and  it 
shall  be  made  crime  not  to  collect  or  pay  such 
taxes  as  the  State  shall  require  ! 

The  eleventh  head  of  civil  grievance  was 
now  come  to.  He  said,  he  was  gone  very  high, 
yet  he  must  go  a  little  higher.  That  great  and 
most  eminent  power  of  the  King,  of  making 
edicts  and  proclamations,  which  are  said  to  be 
leges  temporis,  and  by  means  of  which  our 
princes  have  used  to  encounter  with  such  sud- 
den and  unexpected  danger,  as  would  not  en- 
dure so  much  delay,  as  assembling  the  great 
council  of  the  kingdom — this,  which  is  one  of 
the  most  glorious  beams  of  majesty,  most  rig- 


GRIEVANCES.  75 

orous  in  commanding  reverence  and  subjection, 
hath,  to  our  unspeakable  grief,  been  often  ex- 
ercised of  late  for  the  enjoining  and  maintaining 
sundry  monopolies  and  other  grants  ;  exceeding 
burdensome  and  prejudicial  to  the  people. 

The  twelfth  next.  Now,  although  he  was 
come  as  high  as  he  could  upon  earth,  yet  the 
presumption  of  evil  men  did  lead  him  one  step 
higher — even  as  high  as  heaven — as  high  as  the 
throne  of  God  !  It  was  now  (he  said)  grown 
common  for  ambitious  and  corrupt  men  of  the 
clergy  to  abuse  the  truth  of  God  and  the  bond 
of  conscience  ;  preaching  down  the  laws  and 
liberties  of  the  kingdom  ;  and  pretending  divine 
authority  for  an  absolute  power  in  the  King,  to 
do  what  he  would  with  our  persons  and  goods. 
This  hath  been  so  often  published  in  sermons 
and  printed  books,  that  it  is  now  the  highway 
to  preferment ! 

In  the  last  parliament  we  had  a  sentence  of 
an  offence  of  this  kind  against  one  Manwar- 
ing,  then  a  doctor,  now  a  bishop  ;  concerning 
whom  (he  said)  he  would  say  no  more  but  this, 
that  when  he  saw  him  at  that  bar,  in  the  most 
humble  and  dejected  posture  that  ever  he  ob- 
served, he  thought  he  would  not  so  soon  have 
leaped  into  a  bishop's  chair !  But  his  success 


76  JOHN  PYM. 

hath  emboldened  others ;  therefore  (he  said) 
this  may  well  be  noted  as  a  double  grievance, 
that  such  doctrine  should  be  allowed,  and  that 
such  men  should  be  preferred  ;  yea,  as  a  root  of 
grievances,  whereby  they  endeavor  to  corrupt 
the  King's  conscience,  and,  as  much  as  in  them 
lies,  to  deprive  the  people  of  that  royal  protec- 
tion to  which  his  Majesty  is  bound  by  the 
fundamental  laws  of  the  kingdom,  and  by  his 
own  personal  oath. 

The  thirteenth  head  of  civil  grievences  he 
would  thus  express :  The  long  intermission  of 
parliaments,  contrary  to  the  two  statutes  yet 
in  force,  whereby  it  is  appointed  there  should 
be  parliaments  once  a  year,  at  the  least ;  and 
most  contrary  to  the  public  good  of  the  king- 
dom ;  since,  this  being  well  remedied,  it  would 
generate  remedies  for  all  the  rest. 

Having  gone  through  the  several  heads  of 
grievances,  he  came  to  the  second  main  branch, 
propounded  in  the  beginning ;  that  the  disor- 
ders from  whence  these  grievances  issued  were 
as  hurtful  to  the  King  as  to  the  people,  of  which 
he  gave  divers  reasons. 

i.  The  interruption  of  the  sweet  communion 
which  ought  to  be  betwixt  the  King  and 
his  people,  in  matters  of  grace  and  supply. 


GRIEVANCES.  77 

They  have  need  of  him  by  his  general  pardon ; 
to  be  secured  from  projectors  and  informers; 
to  be  freed  from  obsolete  laws ;  from  the 
subtle  devices  of  such  as  seek  to  restrain 
the  prerogative  to  their  own  private  advan- 
tage, and  the  public  hurt ;  and  he  hath  need 
of  them  for  counsel  and  support  in  great 
and  extraordinary  occasions.  This  mutual  in- 
tercourse, if  indeed  sustained,  would  so  weave 
the  affections  and  interests  of  his  subjects  into 
his  actions  and  designs  that  their  wealth  and 
their  persons  would  be  his ;  his  own  estate 
would  be  managed  to  most  advantage;  and 
public  undertakings  would  be  prosecuted  at  the 
charge  and  adventure  of  the  subject.  The  vic- 
torious attempts  in  Queen  Elizabeth's  time  upon 
Portugal,  Spain,  and  the  Indies,  were  for  the 
greatest  part  made  upon  the  subjects'  purses, 
and  not  upon  the  Queen's ;  though  the  honor 
and  profit  of  the  success  did  most  accrue  to  her. 

2.  Those  often  breaches  and  discontentments 
betwixt  the  King  and  the  people  are  very  apt 
to  diminish  his  reputation  abroad,  and  disad- 
vantage his  treaties  and  alliances. 

3.  The  apprehension   of  the   favor   and   en- 
couragement given  to  popery  hath  much  weak- 
ened his  Majesty's  party  beyond  the  sea,  and 


78  JOHN  PYM. 

impaired  that  advantage  which  Queen  Elizabeth 
and  his  royal  father  have  heretofore  made,  of 
being  heads  of  the  Protestant  union. 

4.  The  innovations  in  religion  and  rigor  of 
ecclesiastical  courts  have  forced  a  great  many 
of  his  Majesty's  subjects  to  forsake  the  land; 
whereby  not  only  their  persons  and  their  pos- 
terity, but  their  wealth  and  their  industry  are 
lost  to  this  kingdom,  much  to  the  reduction, 
also,  of  his  Majesty's   customs   and  subsidies. 
And,  amongst  other  inconveniences  of  such  a 
sort,  this  was  especially  to  be  observed,  that 
divers  clothiers,  driven  out  of  the  country,  had 
set  up  the  manufacture  of   cloth  beyond  the 
seas  ;  whereby  this  State  is  like  to  suffer  much 
by  abatement  of  the  price  of  wools,  and  by 
want  of  employment  for  the  poor  ;  both  which 
likewise  tend  to  his  Majesty's  particular  loss. 

5.  It  puts  the  King  upon  improper  ways  of 
supply,  which,  being  not  warranted  by  law,  are 
much  more  burdensome  to  the  subject  than  ad- 
vantageous to  his  Majesty.     In  France,  not  long 
since,  upon  a  survey  of  the  King's  revenue,  it 
was  found  that  two  parts  in  three  never  came 
to  the  King's  purse,  but  were  diverted  to  the 
profit  of  the  officers  or  ministers  of  the  crown, 
and  it  was  thought  a  very  good    service  and 


GRIEVANCES.  79 

reformation  to  reduce  two  parts  to  the  King, 
leaving  still  a  third  part  to  the  instruments  that 
were  employed  about  getting  it  in.  It  may  well 
be  doubted  that  the  King  may  have  the  like  or 
worse  success  in  England,  which  appears  already 
in  some  particulars.  The  King,  for  instance, 
hath  reserved  upon  the  monopoly  of  wines 
thirty  thousand  pounds  rent  a  year ;  the  vintner 
pays  forty  shillings  a  ton,  which  comes  to  ninety 
thousand  pounds ;  the  price  upon  the  subject 
by  retail  is  increased  two-pence  a  quart,  which 
comes  to  eight  pounds  a  ton,  and  for  forty-five 
thousand  tons  brought  in  yearly,  amounts  to 
three  hundred  and  sixty  thousand  pounds ; 
which  is  three  hundred  and  thirty  thousand 
pounds  loss  to  the  kingdom,  above  the  King's 
rent !  Other  monopolies  also,  as  that  of  soap, 
have  been  very  chargeable  to  the  kingdom  and 
brought  very  little  treasure  into  his  Majesty's 
coffers.  Thus  it  is  that  the  law  provides  for 
that  revenue  of  the  crown  which  is  natural  and 
proper,  that  it  may  be  safely  collected  and 
brought  to  account ;  but  this  illegal  revenue, 
being  without  any  such  provision,  is  left  to 
hazard  and  much  uncertainty,  either  not  to  be 
retained,  or  not  duly  accounted  of. 

6.  It  is  apt  to  weaken  the  industry  and  cour- 


80  JOHN  PYM. 

age  of  the  subject ;  if  they  be  left  uncertain, 
whether  they  shall  reap  the  benefit  of  their 
own  pains  and  hazard.  Those  who  are  brought 
into  the  condition  of  slaves  will  easily  grow  to 
a  slavish  disposition,  who,  having  nothing  to 
lose,  do  commonly  shew  more  boldness  in  dis- 
turbing than  defending  a  kingdom. 

7.  These  irregular  courses  do  give  opportu- 
nity to  ill  instruments,  to  insinuate  themselves 
into  the  King's  service,  for  we  cannot  but  ob- 
serve, that  if  a  man  be  officious  in  furthering 
their  inordinate  burdens  of  ship  money,  mo- 
nopolies, and  the  like,  it  varnisheth  over  all 
other  faults,  and  makes  him  fit  both  for  em- 
ployment and  preferment ;  so  that  out  of  their 
offices,  they  are  furnished  for  vast  expenses, 
purchases,  buildings  ;  and  the  King  loseth  often 
more  in  desperate  debts  at  their  death,  than  he 
got  by  them  all  their  lives.  Whether  this  were 
not  lately  verified  in  a  western  man,  much  em- 
ployed while  he  lived,  he  leaves  to  the  knowl- 
edge of  those  who  were  acquainted  with  his 
course ;  and  he  doubted  not  but  others  might 
be  found  in  the  like  case.  The  same  course, 
again,  has  been  pursued  with  those  that  are  af- 
fected to  popery,  to  profaneness,  and  to  super- 
stitious innovations  in  matters  of  religion.  All 


GRIEVANCES.  8 1 

kinds  of  spies  and  intelligencers,  have  means  to 
be  countenanced  and  trusted  if  they  will  be  but 
zealous  in  these  kind  of  services,  which,  how 
much  it  detracts  from  his  Majesty,  in  honor, 
in  profit,  and  prosperity  of  public  affairs,  lies 
open  to  every  man's  apprehension.  And  from 
these  reasons  or  some  of  them,  he  thought  it 
proceeded,  that  through  the  whole  course  of 
the  English  story  it  might  be  observed,  that 
those  kings  who  had  been  most  respectful  of 
the  laws,  had  been  most  eminent  in  greatness, 
in  glory,  and  success,  both  at  home  and  abroad  ; 
and  that  others,  who  thought  to  subsist  by  the 
violation  of  them,  did  often  fall  into  a  state  of 
weakness,  poverty,  and  infortunity. 

8.  The  differences  and  discontents  betwixt 
his  Majesty  and  the  people  at  home,  have  in 
all  likelihood  diverted  his  royal  thoughts  and 
counsels  from  those  great  opportunities  which 
he  might  have,  not  only  to  weaken  the  House 
of  Austria,  and  to  restore  the  palatinate,  but  to 
gain  himself  a  higher  pitch  of  power  and  great- 
ness than  any  of  his  ancestors.  For  it  is  not 
unknown  how  weak,  how  distracted,  how  dis- 
contented the  Spanish  colonies  are  in  the 
West  Indies.  There  are  now  in  those  parts 
in  New  England,  Virginia,  and  the  Caribbean 


82  JOHN  PYM. 

Islands,  and  in  the  Bermudas,  at  least  sixty 
thousand  able  persons  of  this  nation,  many  of 
them  well  armed,  and  their  bodies  seasoned  to 
that  climate,  which  with  a  very  small  charge, 
might  be  set  down  in  some  advantageous  parts 
of  these  pleasant,  rich,  and  fruitful  countries, 
and  easily  make  his  Majesty  master  of  all  that 
treasure,  which  not  only  foments  the  war,  but 
is  the  great  support  of  popery  in  all  parts  of 
Christendom. 

9.  And  lastly,  those  courses  are  likely  to  pro- 
duce such  distempers  in  the  State  as  may  not  be 
settled  without  great  charge  and  loss  ;  by  which 
means  more  may  be  consumed  in  a  few  months 
than  shall  be  gotten  by  such  ways  in  many  years. 

Having  thus  passed  through  the  two  first 
general  branches,  he  was  now  come  to  the 
third,  wherein  he  was  to  set  down  the  ways  of 
healing  and  removing  those  grievances  which 
consisted  of  two  main  branches  :  first,  in  de- 
claring the  law  where  it  was  doubtful ;  the 
second,  in  better  provision  for  the  execution  of 
law,  where  it  is  clear.  But  (he  said)  because  he 
had  already  spent  much  time,  and  begun  to 
find  some  confusion  in  his  memory,25  he  would 
refer  the  particulars  to  another  opportunity, 
and  for  the  present  only  move  that  which  was 


GRIEVANCES.  83 

general  to  all,  and  which  would  give  weight  and 
advantage  to  all  the  particular  ways  of  redress. 
That  is,  that  we  should  speedily  desire  a  con- 
ference with  the  lords,  and  acquaint  them  with 
the  miserable  condition  wherein  we  find  the 
Church  and  State  ;  and  as  we  have  already  re- 
solved to  join  in  a  religious  seeking  of  God,  in 
a  day  of  fast  and  humiliation,  so  to  entreat 
them  to  concur  with  us  in  a  parliamentary 
course  of  petitioning  the  King,  as  there  should 
be  occasion  ;  and  in  searching  out  the  causes  and 
remedies  of  these  many  insupportable  griev- 
ances under  which  we  lie.  That  so,  by  the  united 
wisdom  and  authority  of  both  Houses,  such 
courses  may  be  taken  as  (through  God's  bless- 
ing) may  advance  the  honor  and  greatness  of 
his  Majesty,  and  restore  and  establish  the  peace 
and  prosperity  of  the  kingdom. 

This,  he  said,  we  might  undertake  with  com- 
fort and  hope  of  success ;  for  though  there  be 
a  darkness  upon  the  land,  a  thick  and  palpable 
darkness,  like  that  of  Egypt,  yet,  as  in  that,  the 
sun  had  not  lost  his  light,  nor  the  Egyptians 
their  sight  (the  interruption  was  only  in  the 
medium),  so  with  us,  there  is  still  (God  be 
thanked)  light  in  the  sun — wisdom  and  justice 
in  his  Majesty — to  dispel  this  darkness  ;  and  in 
us  there  remains  a  visual  faculty,  whereby  we 


84  JOHN  PYM. 

are  enabled  to  apprehend,  and  moved  to  desire, 
light.  And  when  we  shall  be  blessed  in  the 
enjoying  of  it,  we  shall  thereby  be  incited  to 
return  his  Majesty'such  thanks  as  may  make  it 
shine  more  clearly  in  the  world,  to  his  own 
glory,  and  in  the  hearts  of  his  people,  to  their 
joy  and  contentment. 

At  the  conclusion  of  Pym's  speech,  the  King's  solicitor, 
Herbert,  "  with  all  imaginable  address,"  attempted  to  call  off 
the  attention  of  the  members  from  the  extraordinary  impres- 
sion it  had  made.  But  the  singular  moderation  no  less  than 
the  deadly  force  of  Pym's  statements  had  created  a  calm  but  a 
settled  determination.  A  committee  was  at  once  appointed  to 
inquire  into  violations  of  privilege  ;  and  it  was  resolved  to  ask 
for  a  conference  on  grievances  with  the  Lords.  A  conference 
was  held,  and  the  debate  continued  for  two  days — that  of  the 
second  day  continuing  from  eight  in  the  morning  till  five  in  the 
afternoon.  The  King  saw  that  grievances  would  have  to  be  re- 
dressed before  supplies  would  be  granted,  and,  accordingly,  at 
an  early  hour  on  the  following  morning,  he  dissolved  Parliament. 

The  Revolution  was  now  probably  inevitable.  The  affection 
of  the  people  and  of  the  members  of  Parliament  for  the  King 
was  fast  transformed  into  distrust,  and  finally  into  hostility. 
Macaulay  in  his  essays  on  "  Hampden  "  and  "  Hallam's  Con- 
stitutional History  "  has  well  shown  the  several  steps  in  the 
process  of  transformation.  The  King  was  soon  obliged  to 
summon  another  Parliament ;  and  when  the  new  members 
came  together  in  November  of  the  same  year,  it  was  evident 
that  compromise  was  no  longer  possible.  The  impeachment 
and  execution  of  Strafford  were  soon  followed  by  an  attempt 
of  the  King  to  arrest  the  leading  members  of  Parliament,  and 
this  attempt  in  turn  was  followed  by  the  outbreak  of  war. 


LORD  CHATHAM. 


THE  elder  William  Pitt  entered  the  House 
of  Commons  at  the  age  of  twenty-six,  in  the 
year  1735.  At  Eton  and  at  Oxford  his  energies 
had  been  devoted  to  a  course  of  study  that  was 
admirably  adapted  to  develop  the  remarkable 
powers  for  which  his  name  is  so  well  known. 
We  are  told  that  he  was  a  devoted  student  of 
the  classics,  that  he  wrote  out  again  and  again 
carefully-prepared  translations  of  some  of  the 
great  models  of  ancient  oratory,  and  that  in 
this  way  he  acquired  his  easy  command  of  a 
forcible  and  expressive  style.  His  studies  in 
English,  too,  were  directed  to  the  same  end. 
He  read  and  reread  the  sermons  of  Dr.  Barrow, 
till  he  had  acquired  something  of  that  great 
preacher's  copiousness  of  vocabulary  and  ex- 
actness of  expression.  With  the  same  end  in 
85 


86  LORD   CHATHAM. 

view  he  also  performed  the  extraordinary  task 
of  going  twice  through  Bailey's  Dictionary,  ex- 
amining every  word,  and  making  himself,  as  far 
as  possible,  complete  master  of  all  the  shades 
of  its  significance.  Joined  to  these  efforts  was 
also  an  unusual  training  in  elocution,  which 
gave  him  extraordinary  command  of  a  remark- 
able voice,  and  made  him  an  actor  scarcely  in- 
ferior to  Garrick  himself.  It  may  be  doubted 
whether  any  one,  since  the  days  of  Cicero,  has 
subjected  himself  to  an  equal  amount  of  pure 
drudgery  in  order  to  fit  himself  for  the  duties 
of  a  public  speaker. 

When  Pitt  entered  the  House  of  Commons, 
Walpole  was  at  the  height  of  his  power.  Pitt's 
first  speech  was  on  the  occasion  of  the  mar- 
riage of  the  Prince  of  Wales  in  1736;  and,  al- 
though it  consisted  mainly  of  a  series  of  high- 
sounding  compliments,  it  attracted  immediate 
and  universal  attention  on  account  of  its  fine 
command  of  language  and  its  general  elegance 
of  manner.  United  with  these  characteristics 
was  also  a  vein  of  irony  that  made  it  "  gall 


LORD   CHATHAM.  8/ 

and  wormwood  "  to  the  King  and  to  Walpole. 
The  Prince  of  Wales,  as  so  often  has  happened 
in  English  history,  was  at  the  head  of  the  op- 
position to  the  government.  This  opposition 
had  been  so  strenuous  as  to  provoke  the  ener- 
getic displeasure  of  the  King  and  of  the  First 
Minister.  King  George's  animosity  had  gone 
so  far  as  to  forbid  the  moving  of  the  congratu- 
latory address  by  the  Minister  of  the  Crown. 
This  fact  gave  to  Pitt  an  opportunity  which  he 
turned  to  immediate  account.  Though  there 
was  not  a  syllable  in  the  speech  that  could  be 
regarded  as  disrespectful  or  improper,  the  orator 
so  managed  the  subject  as  to  give  to  his  com- 
pliments all  the  effect  of  the  keenest  irony. 
His  glowing  utterances  on  the  "  filial  virtues  " 
of  the  son,  and  the  "  tender  paternal  delight "  of 
the  father,  showed  to  his  astonished  auditors  that 
he  was  concealing  under  the  cover  of  faultless 
phrases  an  able  and  a  dangerous  opposition. 
Walpole  was  filled  with  anxiety  and  alarm.  He  is 
said  to  have  remarked  :  "  We  must  at  all  events 
muzzle  that  terrible  cornet  of  horse."  It  is 


88  LORD   CHATHAM. 

probable  that  the  arts  of  bribery  were  at- 
tempted in  order  to  win  over  the  young  officer; 
but  it  is  certain  that,  if  the  effort  was  made,  it 
met  with  failure,  for  Pitt  remained  inflexibly 
attached  to  the  Prince  and  the  opposition. 
Walpole  could  at  least  throw  him  into  disgrace. 
Within  two  weeks  after  his  speech,  Pitt  was  de- 
prived of  his  commission. 

The  effect  was  what  an  acute  politician 
should  have  foreseen.  It  made  the  Court  more 
odious  ;  it  created  a  general  sympathy  for  the 
young  orator;  it  put  him  at  the  head  of 
the  new  party  known  as  the  Patriots.  Walpole, 
from  this  moment,  was  obliged  to  assume  the 
defensive,  and  his  power  steadily  declined  till 
his  fall  in  1741.  It  was  in  a  succession  of 
assaults  upon  Walpole  that  the  great  abilities 
of  Pitt  forced  themselves  into  universal  recog- 
nition. 

The  sources  of  his  power  were  two-fold.  In 
the  first  place  he  made  himself  the  avowed 
champion  of  what  may  be  called  the  popular 
part  of  the  Constitution.  His  effort  was  to 


LORD   CHATHAM.  89 

rescue  the  government  from  those  corruptions 
which  had  kept  Walpole  so  long  in  place,  and 
had  so  long  stifled  all  the  popular  sentiments 
of  the  nation.  In  the  interests  of  this  purpose 
he  was  the  first  to  propose  a  reform  of  the  House 
of  Commons,  as  a  result  of  which  there  might  be 
something  like  a  true  representation  of  popular 
interests.  The  other  source  of  his  power  was 
in  the  methods  and  characteristics  of  his  elo- 
quence. He  was  not  in  a  true  sense  a  great 
debater.  His  ability  lay  not  in  any  power  to 
analyze  a  difficult  and  complicated  subject  and 
present  the  bearings  of  its  several  parts  in  a  man- 
ner to  convince  the  reason.  His  peculiarities 
were  rather  in  his  way  of  seizing  upon  the  more 
obvious  phases  of  the  question  at  issue,  and 
presenting  them  with  a  nobility  of  sentiment,  a 
fervor  of  energy,  a  loftiness  of  conception,  and 
a  power  of  invective  that  bore  down  and  de- 
stroyed all  opposition. 

During  much  of  the  time  between  1735  and 
1755  Pitt  was  in  the  opposition.  When,  on 
the  fall  of  Walpole  in  1741,  Carteret  came  into 


gQ  LORD   CHATHAM. 

power,  Pitt  assailed  his  narrow  views  and  sor- 
did methods  with  such  energy  that  after  three 
years  he  was  given  up  as  an  object  of  merited 
reprobation.  Pelham  was  now  called  to  the 
head  of  affairs ;  but  he  would  accept  the  office 
of  First  Minister  only  on  condition  that  Pitt 
would  take  office  under  him.  The  King  for  a 
long  time  resisted ;  but,  after  a  vain  attempt  to 
have  a  government  formed  under  Pulteney,  he 
gave  his  assent.  Thus  Pitt  became  Paymaster 
of  the  Forces  in  1746,  an  office  which  he  held 
till  the  death  of  Pelham  in  1754. 

But  on  the  accession  of  Pelham's  brother, 
the  Duke  of  Newcastle,  he  once  more  fell  into 
the  opposition.  The  two  years  that  followed 
were  the  most  brilliant  period  of  his  oratory. 
The  ministry  gave  him  ample  opportunities, 
and  he  took  every  occasion  to  improve  them. 
Disasters  abounded  in  every  quarter  of  the 
British  Empire.  The  loss  of  Minorca,  the  cap- 
ture of  Calcutta,  the  defeat  of  Gen.  Braddock, 
the  threatened  invasion  of  England  by  the 
French,  were  themes  well  calculated  to  call 


LORD   CHATHAM.  9! 

forth  his  awful  invective.  The  result  was  that 
Newcastle  was  driven  from  his  place.  Public 
opinion  demanded  that  the  reins  now  be  placed 
in  the  hands  of  the  only  man  fitted  to  hold 
them.  Pitt  became  Prime  Minister  in  Decem- 
ber of  1756. 

But  the  personal  dislike  of  the  King  still 
would  allow  him  no  success.  Newcastle  with 
the  support  of  the  royal  favor  was  able  to  de- 
feat him  in  the  House  of  Commons;  and  in 
April,  1757,  he  was  ordered  to  retire.  But  the 
outburst  of  popular  indignation  showed  itself  in 
all  parts  of  the  kingdom.  The  chief  towns  sent 
gold  boxes  containing  the  "  freedom  of  the 
cities  "  in  token  of  their  approval  of  the  minis- 
ter. As  Horace  Walpole  said  :  "  It  rained 
gold  boxes."  The  King  was  obliged  to  give 
way,  and  in  June  of  1757  Pitt  was  recalled. 

Then  began  his  great  career  as  a  statesman. 
With  a  power  that  in  England  has  never  been 
equalled,  he  infused  his  own  spirit  into  all 
those  about  him.  The  panic  which  had  para- 
lyzed all  effort  gave  way  to  an  air  of  proud 


92  LORD   CHATHAM. 

and  defiant  confidence.  The  secret  was,  that 
Pitt  had  the  faculty  of  transfusing  his  own 
zeal  into  all  those  with  whom  he  came  in 
contact.  "  It  will  be  impossible  to  have  so 
many  ships  prepared  so  soon,"  said  Lord  Anson, 
when  a  certain  expedition  was  ordered.  "  If 
the  ships  are  not  ready,"  cried  out  Pitt,  "  I  will 
impeach  your  Lordship,  in  the  presence  of  the 
House."  The  ships  were  ready ;  indeed,  so 
was  every  thing  else  as  he  required.  And  this 
was  the  spirit  that  carried  into  England  the  en- 
ergy of  a  new  existence.  Within  little  more 
than  two  years  all  was  changed.  In  Africa 
France  was  obliged  to  give  up  every  settlement 
she  possessed.  In  India  she  was  stripped  of 
every  post,  and,  after  defeat  at  sea,  was  obliged 
to  abandon  her  contest  for  the  mastery  of  the 
East.  In  the  New  World  the  victories  of  the 
English  were  even  more  striking  and  more  im- 
portant. A  chain  of  French  forts  had  hemmed 
in  the  English  settlers,  and  threatened  the  very 
existence  of  the  Colonies.  One  after  another, 
Fort  Duquesne,  Ticonderoga,  Crown  Point, 


LORD   CHATHAM.  93 

Oswego,  Niagara,  Louisburg,  and  Quebec,  fell 
into  the  hands  of  the  English.  The  war  is 
summarized  by  saying  that  at  the  close  of  the 
conflict,  not  a  foot  of  territory  was  left  to  the 
French  in  the  Western  World.  In  Europe  the 
French  were  defeated  at  CreVeldt  and  Minden  ; 
Havre  was  bombarded ;  the  fortifications  at 
Cherbourg  were  destroyed  ;  and  the  great  vic- 
tory off  Quiberon  demolished  the  French  Navy 
for  the  remainder  of  the  war.  And  yet,  when  in 
1760  George  III.  ascended  the  throne,  he  con- 
spired with  the  Tory  leaders  to  overthrow  the 
great  minister,  "  in  order,"  as  was  finely  said  by 
Grattan,  "  to  be  relieved  of  his  superiority." 
George  was  determined  to  follow  his  mother's  in- 
junctions and  "be king."  The  royal  opposition 
succeeded  in  defeating  Pitt  on  the  manner  of 
beginning  the  Spanish  war  ;  and  the  most  glori- 
ous ministry  that  England  had  ever  seen  was 
brought  to  an  end  in  October,  1761.  In  four 
and  a  half  years  England  had  been  taken  from 
a  state  of  extreme  humiliation  and  made  the  first 
power  in  Europe. 


94  LORD   CHATHAM. 

The  remaining  sixteen  years  of  Pitt's  life 
with  one  brief  interval,  were  devoted  to  the 
Opposition.  He  was  tortured  with  the  gout, 
and  during  much  of  this  period  was  unable  to  be 
in  his  place  in  Parliament,  or  even  to  leave  his 
bed.  But  at  times  the  energy  of  his  will  over- 
came the  infirmities  of  his  body  and  he  ap- 
peared in  the  House,  where  he  always  made  his 
voice  and  his  influence  felt.  With  the  accession 
of  the  Tories  under  the  lead  of  the  King,  the 
traditional  methods  of  government  were  in  dan- 
ger. It  was  to  combat  these  tendencies, — as 
he  said  :  "  to  restore,  to  save,  to  confirm  the 
Constitution," — that  all  his  powers  of  body 
and  mind  were  directed.  He  was  the  cham- 
pion of  popular  interests  in  opposition  to  the 
usurping  prerogatives  of  George  III. 

It  was  during  this  period  that  most  of  his 
speeches  preserved  to  us  in  one  form  and  an- 
other were  delivered.  But  the  reporting  of 
speeches  had  not  yet  come  into  vogue.  Most 
of  his  efforts  were  written  out  with  more  or 
less  fulness  by  some  of  his  friends.  The 


LORD   CHATHAM.  95 

speech  which  every  school  boy  learns,  begin- 
ning :  "  The  atrocious  crime  of  being  a  young 
man,"  was  written  out  by  Dr.  Johnson.  The 
speech  on  the  Stamp  Act,  delivered  in  January 
of  1766,  was  reported  by  Sir  Robert  Dean  and 
Lord  Charlemont.  The  one  selected  for  this 
collection,  that  on  an  Address  to  the  Throne 
concerning  affairs  in  America,  was  reported  by 
Hugh  Boyd,  and  is  said  to  have  been  corrected 
by  Chatham  himself.  It  is  probable  that  no 
speeches  ever  lost  more  in  the  process  of  re- 
porting than  his ;  for,  more  than  any  one  else 
he  was  dependent  on  the  circumstances  and 
the  inspiration  of  the  moment.  An  eminent 
contemporary  said  of  him :  "  No  man  ever 
knew  so  little  what  he  was  going  to  say  " ;  and 
he  once  said  of  himself  :  "  When  once  I  am  up, 
every  thing  that  is  in  my  mind  comes  out." 
His  speeches  were  in  the  matter  of  form 
strictly  extemporaneous,  and  they  acquired 
their  almost  marvellous  power,  very  largely 
from  those  peculiarities  of  voice  and  manner 
which  are  wholly  absent  in  the  printed  form. 


96  LORD   CHATHAM. 

Macaulay  in  one  of  his  essays  says  of  him: 
"  His  figure  was  strikingly  graceful  and  com- 
manding, his  features  high,  his  eye  full  of  fire. 
His  voice,  even  when  it  sunk  to  a  whisper,  was 
heard  to  the  remotest  benches  ;  and  when  he 
strained  it  to  its  fullest  extent,  the  sound  rose 
like  the  swell  of  an  organ  of  a  great  cathedral, 
shook  the  house  with  its  peal,  and  was  heard 
through  lobbies  and  down  staircases  to  the 
Court  of  Requests  and  the  precincts  of  West- 
minster Hall.  He  cultivated  all  these  eminent 
advantages  with  the  most  assiduous  care.  His 
action  is  described  by  a  very  malignant  ob- 
server as  equal  to  that  of  Garrick.  His  play 
of  countenance  was  wonderful ;  he  frequently 
disconcerted  a  hostile  orator  by  a  single  glance 
of  indignation  or  scorn."  To  understand  the 
full  power  of  his  oratory,  the  reader  must  keep 
these  characteristics  always  in  mind. 

From  the  beginning  of  the  reign  of  George 
III.,  Chatham,  of  course,  was  almost  constantly 
in  the  opposition.  Afflicted  by  disease  and 
saddened  by  disappointment,  he  was  seldom  in 


LORD   CHATHAM.  97 

Parliament ;  and  sometimes  even  when  there, 
he  was  too  weak  to  give  adequate  expression  to 
his  ardent  thoughts.  He  was  "  the  great  Com- 
moner "  ;  and  his  influence  therefore  was  much 
weakened  when  in  1767  he  went  into  the  House 
of  Lords.  But  to  the  last  his  character  was 
above  suspicion,  and  it  was  finely  said  of  him 
that  "  great  as  was  his  oratory,  every  one  felt 
that  the  man  was  infinitely  greater  than  the 
orator."  Even  Franklin  said  of  him  :  "  I  have 
sometimes  seen  eloquence  without  wisdom,  and 
often  wisdom  without  eloquence  ;  but  in  him  I 
have  seen  them  united  in  the  highest  degree." 
His  death  occurred  on  the  nth  of  May,  1778, 
in  the  seventieth  year  of  his  age. 


LORD  CHATHAM. 


ON    THE    RIGHT    OF     TAXING    AMERICA.        HOUSE    OF 
COMMONS,  JANUARY    14,    1766. 

The  famous  Stamp  Act  resorted  to  as  a  means  of  raising  a 
revenue  from  the  American  Colonies  during  the  Ministry  of 
Mr.  George  Grenville,  was  approved  on  the  22d  of  March,  1765 . 
The  law  was  never  successfully  enforced  ;  and  when,  a  few 
months  after  its  passage,  the  Ministry  of  Grenville  was  suc- 
ceeded by  that  of  Lord  Rockingham,  it  became  evident  that 
nothing  but  a  change  of  policy  would  restore  America  to 
tranquillity.  The  plan  of  the  Ministry  was  to  repeal  the  act, 
but  at  the  same  time  to  assert  the  right  of  Parliament  to  tax 
the  Colonies.  Against  this  position,  Pitt  (for  he  had  not  yet 
become  Lord  Chatham)  determined  to  take  a  stand.  The  fol- 
lowing speech,  made  on  the  occasion,  is  a  good  specimen  of 
his  earlier  oratory, — though  in  parts  it  was  evidently  much 
abridged  in  the  process  of  reproduction.  It  was  reported  by 
Sir  Robert  Dean,  assisted  by  Lord  Charlemont,  and  the  ver- 
sion here  given  is  supposed  to  be  more  nearly  as  the  speech 
was  spoken  than  is  the  report  of  any  of  the  other  of  his 
speeches,  except  that  on  an  "Address  to  the  Throne,"  given 
hereafter. 

MR.  SPEAKER  : 

I  came  to  town  but  to-day.    I  was  a  stranger 
to  the  tenor  of   his  Majesty's  speech,  and  the 
98 


RIGHT  OF   TAXATION.  99 

proposed  address,  till  I  heard  them  read  in  this 
House.  Unconnected  and  unconsulted,  I  have 
not  the  means  of  information.  I  am  fearful  of 
offending  through  mistake,  and  therefore  beg  to 
be  indulged  with  a  second  reading  of  the  pro- 
posed address.  [The  address  being  read,  Mr.  Pitt 
went  on :]  I  commend  the  King's  speech,  and 
approve  of  the  address  in  answer,  as  it  decides 
nothing,  every  gentleman  being  left  at  perfect 
liberty  to  take  such  a  part  concerning  America 
as  he  may  afterward  see  fit.  One  word  only  I 
cannot  approve  of:  an  "  early,"  is  a  word  that 
does  not  belong  to  the  notice  the  ministry  have 
given  to  Parliament  of  the  troubles  in  America. 
In  a  matter  of  such  importance,  the  communi- 
cation ought  to  have  been  immediate ! 

I  speak  not  now  with  respect  to  parties.  I 
stand  up  in  this  place  single  and  independent. 
As  to  the  late  ministry  [turning  himself  to  Mr. 
Grenville,  who  sat  within  one  of  him],  every 
capital  measure  they  have  taken  has  been  en- 
tirely wrong  !  As  to  the  present  gentlemen,  to 
those  at  least  whom  I  have  in  my  eye  [looking 
at  the  bench  where  General  Conway  sat  with 
the  lords  of  the  treasury],  I  have  no  objection. 
I  have  never  been  made  a  sacrifice  by  any  of 
them.  Their  characters  are  fair ;  and  I  am  al- 


100  LORD   CHATHAM. 

ways  glad  when  men  of  fair  character  engage 
in  his  Majesty's  service.  Some  of  them  did 
me  the  honor  to  ask  my  opinion  before  they 
would  engage.  These  will  now  do  me  the  justice 
to  own,  I  advised  them  to  do  it — but,  notwith- 
standing [for  I  love  to  be  explicit],  /  cannot 
give  them  my  confidence.  Pardon  me,  gentle- 
men [bowing  to  the  ministry],  confidence  is  a 
plant  of  slow  growth  in  an  aged  bosom.  Youth 
is  the  season  of  credulity.  By  comparing 
events  with  each  other,  reasoning  from  effects 
to  causes,  methinks  I  plainly  discover  the 
traces  of  an  overruling  influence.26 

There  is  a  clause  in  the  Act  of  Settlement 
obliging  every  minister  to  sign  his  name  to  the 
advice  which  he  gives  to  his  sovereign.  Would 
it  were  observed !  I  have  had  the  honor  to 
serve  the  Crown,  and  if  I  could  have  submitted 
to  influence,  I  might  have  still  continued  to 
serve :  but  I  would  not  be  responsible  for  oth- 
ers. I  have  no  local  attachments.  It  is  indif- 
ferent to  me  whether  a  man  was  rocked  in  his 
cradle  on  this  side  or  that  side  of  the  Tweed. 
I  sought  for  merit  wherever  it  was  to  be  found. 
It  is  my  boast,  that  I  was  the  first  minister 
who  looked  for  it,  and  found  it,  in  the  moun- 
tains of  the  North.  I  called  it  forth,  and 


RIGHT  OF   TAXATION.  IOI 

drew  into  your  service  a  hardy  and  intrepid 
race  of  men — men,  who,  when  left  by  your 
jealousy,  became  a  prey  to  the  artifices  of  your 
enemies,  and  had  gone  nigh  to  have  overturned 
the  state  in  the  war  before  the  last.  These 
men,  in  the  last  war,  were  brought  to  combat 
on  your  side.  They  served  with  fidelity,  as 
they  fought  with  valor,  and  conquered  for  you 
in  every  part  of  the  world.  Detested  be  the 
national  reflections  against  them  !  They  are 
unjust,  groundless,  illiberal,  unmanly!  When 
I  ceased  to  serve  his  Majesty  as  a  minister,  it 
was  not  the  country  of  the  man  by  which  I  was 
moved — but  the  man  of  that  country  wanted 
wisdom,  and  held  principles  incompatible  with 
freedom. 

It  is  a  long  time,  Mr.  Speaker,  since  I  have 
attended  in  Parliament.  When  the  resolution 
was  taken  in  this  House  to  tax  America,  I  was 
ill  in  bed.  If  I  could  have  endured  to  be  car- 
ried in  my  bed — so  great  was  the  agitation  of 
my  mind  for  the  consequences — I  would  have 
solicited  some  kind  hand  to  have  laid  me  down 
on  this  floor,  to  have  borne  my  testimony  against 
it !  It  is  now  an  act  that  has  passed.  I  would 
speak  with  decency  of  every  act  of  this  House; 
but  I  must  beg  the  indulgence  of  the  House  to 
speak  of  it  with  freedom. 


IO2  LORD   CHATHAM. 

I  hope  a  day  may  soon  be  appointed  to  con- 
sider the  state  of  the  nation  with  respect  to 
America.  I  hope  gentlemen  will  come  to  this 
debate  with  all  the  temper  and  impartiality  that 
his  Majesty  recommends,  and  the  importance 
of  the  subject  requires;  a  subject  of  greater 
importance  than  ever  engaged  the  attention  of 
this  House,  that  subject  only  excepted,  when, 
near  a  century  ago,  it  was  the  question  whether 
you  yourselves  were  to  be  bond  or  free.  In 
the  meantime,  as  I  cannot  depend  upon  my 
health  for  any  future  day  (such  is  the  nature  of 
my  infirmities),  I  will  beg  to  say  a  few  words  at 
present,  leaving  the  justice,  the  equity,  the 
policy,  the  expediency  of  the  act  to  another 
time. 

I  will  only  speak  to  one  point — a  point  which 
seems  not  to  have  been  generally  understood 
I  mean  to  the  right.  Some  gentlemen  [allud- 
ing to  Mr.  Nugent]  seem  to  have  considered  it 
as  a  point  of  honor.  If  gentlemen  consider  it 
in  that  light,  they  leave  all  measures  of  right 
and  wrong,  to  follow  a  delusion  that  may  lead 
to  destruction.  It  is  my  opinion,  that  this  king- 
dom has  no  right  to  lay  a  tax  upon  the  colonies. 
At  the  same  time,  I  assert  the  authority  of  this 
kingdom  over  the  colonies  to  be  sovereign  and 


RIGHT  OF   TAXATION.  103 

supreme,  in  every  circumstance  of  government 
and  legislation  whatsoever.  They  are  the  sub- 
jects of  this  kingdom  ;  equally  entitled  with 
yourselves  to  all  the  natural  rights  of  mankind 
and  the  peculiar  privileges  of  Englishmen ; 
equally  bound  by  its  laws,  and  equally  partici- 
pating in  the  constitution  of  this  free  country. 
The  Americans  are  the  sons,  not  the  bastards 
of  England  !  Taxation  is  no  part  of  the  gov- 
erning or  legislative  power.  The  taxes  are  a 
voluntary^//"/  and  grant  of  the  Commons  alone. 
In  legislation  the  three  estates  of  the  realm  are 
alike  concerned ;  but  the  concurrence  of  the 
peers  and  the  Crown  to  a  tax  is  only  necessary 
to  clothe  it  with  the  form  of  a  law.  The  gift 
and  grant  is  of  the  Commons  alone.  In  ancient 
days,  the  Crown,  the  barons,  and  the  clergy 
possessed  the  lands.  In  those  days,  the  barons 
and  the  clergy  gave  and  granted  to  the  Crown. 
They  gave  and  granted  what  was  their  own ! 
At  present,  since  the  discovery  of  America,  and 
other  circumstances  permitting,  the  Commons 
are  become  the  proprietors  of  the  land.  The 
Church  (God  bless  it !)  has  but  a  pittance.  The 
property  of  the  lords,  compared  with  that  of 
the  commons,  is  as  a  drop  of  water  in  the 
ocean ;  and  this  House  represents  those  com- 


IO4  LORD   CHATHAM. 

mons,  the  proprietors  of  the  lands  ;  and  those 
proprietors  virtually  represent  the  rest  of  the 
inhabitants.  When,  therfore,  in  this  House, 
we  give  and  grant,  we  give  and  grant  what 
is  our  own.  But  in  an  American  tax,  what 
do  we  do?  "We,  your  Majesty's  Commons 
for  Great  Britain,  give  and  grant  to  your 
Majesty" — what?  Our  own  property!  No! 
"We  give  and  grant  to  your  Majesty"  the 
property  of  your  Majesty's  Commons  of  Amer- 
ica !  It  is  an  absurdity  in  terms.27 

The  distinction  between  legislation  and  taxa- 
tion is  essentially  necessary  to  liberty.  The 
Crown  and  the  peers  are  equally  legislative 
powers  with  the  Commons.  If  taxation  be  a 
part  of  simple  legislation,  the  Crown  and  the 
peers  have  rights  in  taxation  as  well  as  your- 
selves ;  rights  which  they  will  claim,  which  they 
will  exercise,  whenever  the  principle  can  be  sup- 
ported by  power. 

There  is  an  idea  in  some  that  the  colonies  are 
virtually  represented  in  the  House.  I  would 
fain  know  by  whom  an  American  is  represented 
here.  Is  he  represented  by  any  knight  of 
the  shire,  in  any  county  in  this  kingdom  ? 
Would  to  God  that  respectable  representation 
was  augmented  to  a  greater  number  !  Or  will 


RIGHT  OF  TAXATION.  IO$ 

you  tell  him  that  he  is  represented  by  any  repre- 
sentative of  a  borough  ?  a  borough  which,  per- 
haps, its  own  representatives  never  saw !  This 
is  what  is  called  the  rotten  part  of  the  Constitu- 
tion. It  cannot  continue  a  century.  If  it  does 
not  drop,  it  must  be  amputated.2  8  The  idea  of 
a  virtual  representation  of  America  in  this 
House  is  the  most  contemptible  idea  that  ever 
entered  into  the  head  of  a  man.  It  does  not 
deserve  a  serious  refutation. 

The  Commons  of  America  represented  in 
their  several  assemblies,  have  ever  been  in  pos- 
session of  the  exercise  of  this,  their  constitu- 
tional right,  of  giving  and  granting  their  own 
money.  They  would  have  been  slaves  if  they 
had  not  enjoyed  it !  At  the  same  time,  this 
kingdom,  as  the  supreme  governing  and  legis- 
lative power,  has  always  bound  the  colonies  by 
her  laws,  by  her  regulations,  and  restrictions  in 
trade,  in  navigation,  in  manufactures,  in  every 
thing,  except  that  of  taking  their  money  out  of 
their  pockets  without  their  consent. 

Here  I  would  draw  the  line  : 

Quam  ultra  citraque  neque  consistere  rectum. 

[When  Lord  Chatham  had  concluded,  Mr. 
George  Grenville  secured  the  floor  and  entered 


106  LORD   CHATHAM. 

into  a  general  denunciation  of  the  tumults  and 
riots  which  had  taken  place  in  the  colonies,  and 
declared  that  they  bordered  on  rebellion.  He 
condemned  the  language  and  sentiments  which 
he  had  heard  as  encouraging  a  revolution.  A 
portion  of  his  speech  is  here  inserted,  as  it  is 
necessary  for  a  complete  understanding  of  the 
reply  of  Lord  Chatham.] 

"  I  cannot,"  said  Mr.  Grenville,  "  understand 
the  difference  between  external  and  internal 
taxes.  They  are  the  same  in  effect,  and  differ  only 
in  name.  That  this  kingdom  has  the  sovereign, 
the  supreme  legislative  power  over  America,  is 
granted  ;  it  cannot  be  denied  ;  and  taxation  is  a 
part  of  that  sovereign  power.  It  is  one  branch 
of  the  legislation.  It  is,  it  has  been,  exercised 
over  those  who  are  not,  who  were  never  repre- 
sented. It  is  exercised  over  the  India  Company, 
the  merchants  of  London,  the  proprietors  of  the 
stocks,  and  over  many  great  manufacturing 
towns.  It  was  exercised  over  the  county  pala- 
tine of  Chester,  and  the  bishopric  of  Durham, 
before  they  sent  any  representatives  to  Parlia- 
ment. I  appeal  for  proof  to  the  preambles  of 
the  acts  which  gave  them  representatives  ;  one 
in  the  reign  of  Henry  VIII.,  the  other  in  that  of 
Charles  II."  [Mr.  Grenville  then  quoted  the  acts, 


RIGHT  OF   TAXATION.  TO/ 

and  desired  that  they  might  be  read  ;  which  be- 
ing done,  he  said]  :  "  When  I  proposed  to  tax 
America,  I  asked  the  House  if  any  gentleman 
would  object  to  the  right ;  I  repeatedly  asked  it, 
and  no  man  would  attempt  to  deny  it.  Protec- 
tion and  obedience  are  reciprocal.  Great  Brit- 
ain protects  America  ;  America  is  bound  to  yield 
obedience.  If  not,  tell  me  when  the  Americans 
were  emancipated  ?  When  they  want  the  pro- 
tection of  this  kingdom,  they  are  always  very 
ready  to  ask  it.  That  protection  has  always 
been  afforded  them  in  the  most  full  and  ample 
manner.  The  nation  has  run  herself  into  an 
immense  debt  to  give  them  their  protection ; 
and  now,  when  they  are  called  upon  to  con- 
tribute a  small  share  toward  the  public  expense 
— an  expense  arising  from  themselves — they 
renounce  your  authority,  insult  your  officers, 
and  break  out,  I  might  almost  say,  into  open 
rebellion.  The  seditious  spirit  of  the  colonies 
owes  its  birth  to  the  factions  in  this  House. 
Gentlemen  are  careless  of  the  consequences  of 
what  they  say,  provided  it  answers  the  purposes 
of  opposition.  We  were  told  we  trod  on  ten- 
der ground.  We  were  bid  to  expect  disobedi- 
ence. What  is  this  but  telling  the  Americans 
to  stand  out  against  the  law,  to  encourage  their 


108  LORD   CHATHAM. 

obstinacy  with  the  expectation  of  support  from 
hence  ?  "  Let  us  only  hold  out  a  little,"  they 
would  say,  "  our  friends  will  soon  be  in  power." 
Ungrateful  people  of  America !  Bounties  have 
been  extended  to  them.  When  I  had  the  honor 
of  serving  the  Crown,  while  you  yourselves 
were  loaded  with  an  enormous  debt,  you  gave 
bounties  on  their  lumber,  on  their  iron,  their 
hemp,  and  many  other  articles.  You  have  re- 
laxed in  their  favor  the  Act  of  Navigation,  that 
palladium  of  the  British  commerce  ;  and  yet  I 
have  been  abused  in  all  the  public  papers  as  an 
enemy  to  the  trade  of  America.  I  have  been 
particularly  charged  with  giving  orders  and  in- 
structions to  prevent  the  Spanish  trade,  and 
thereby  stopping  the  channel  by  which  alone 
North  America  used  to  be  supplied  with  cash 
for  remittances  to  this  country.  I  defy  any 
man  to  produce  any  such  orders  or  instructions. 
I  discouraged  no  trade  but  what  was  illicit, 
what  was  prohibited  by  an  act  of  Parliament. 
I  desire  a  West  India  merchant  [Mr.  Long], 
well  known  in  the  city,  a  gentleman  of  charac- 
ter, may  be  examined.  He  will  tell  you  that  I 
offered  to  do  every  thing  in  my  power  to  ad- 
vance the  trade  of  America.  I  was  above  giv- 
ing an  answer  to  anonymous  calumnies  ;  but  in 


RIGHT  OF   TAXATION.  109 

this  place  it  becomes  one  to  wipe  off  the  asper- 
sion." 

[Here  Mr.  Grenville  ceased.  Several  mem- 
bers got  up  to  speak,  but  Mr.  Pitt  seeming  to 
rise,  the  House  was  so  clamorous  for  Mr.  Pitt ! 
Mr.  Pitt !  that  the  speaker  was  obliged  to  call 
to  order.] 

Mr.  Pitt  said,  I  do  not  apprehend  I  am  speak- 
ing twice.  I  did  expressly  reserve  a  part  of  my 
subject,  in  order  to  save  the  time  of  this  House ; 
but  I  am  compelled  to  proceed  in  it.  I  do 
not  speak  twice ;  I  only  finish  what  I  design- 
edly left  imperfect.  But  if  the  House  is  of  a 
different  opinion,  far  be  it  from  me  to  indulge 
a  wish  of  transgression  against  order.  I  am 
content,  if  it  be  your  pleasure,  to  be  silent. 
[Here  he  paused.  The  House  resounding  with 
Go  on  !  go  on  !  he  proceeded  :] 

Gentlemen,  sir,  have  been  charged  with  giv- 
ing birth  to  sedition  in  America.  They  have 
spoken  their  sentiments  with  freedom  against 
this  unhappy  act,  and  that  freedom  has  become 
their  crime.  Sorry  I  am  to  hear  the  liberty  of 
speech  in  this  House  imputed  as  a  crime.  But 
the  imputation  shall  not  discourage  me.  It  is 
a  liberty  I  mean  to  exercise.  No  gentleman 
ought  to  be  afraid  to  exercise  it.  It  is  a  liberty 


110  LORD   CHATHAM. 

by  which  the  gentleman  who  calumniates  it 
might  have  profited.  He  ought  to  have  de- 
sisted from  his  project.  The  gentleman  tells 
us,  America  is  obstinate  ;  America  is  almost  in 
open  rebellion.  I  rejoice  that  America  has  re- 
sisted. Three  millions  of  people,  so  dead  to 
all  the  feelings  of  liberty  as  voluntarily  to  sub- 
mit to  be  slaves,  would  have  been  fit  instru- 
ments to  make  slaves  of  the  rest.  I  come  not 
here  armed  at  all  points,  with  law  cases  and 
acts  of  Parliament,  with  the  statute  book 
doubled  down  in  dog's  ears,  to  defend  the 
cause  of  liberty.  If  I  had,  I  myself  would  have 
cited  the  two  cases  of  Chester  and  Durham.  I 
would  have  cited  them  to  show  that,  even 
under  former  arbitrary  reigns,  Parliaments  were 
ashamed  of  taxing  a  people  without  their  con- 
sent, and  allowed  them  representatives.  Why 
did  the  gentleman  confine  himself  to  Chester 
and  Durham  ?  2  9  He  might  have  taken  a  higher 
example  in  Wales — Wales,  that  never  was 
taxed  by  Parliament  till  it  was  incorporated. 
I  would  not  debate  a  particular  point  of  law 
with  the  gentleman.  I  know  his  abilities.  I 
have  been  obliged  to  his  diligent  researches. 
But,  for  the  defence  of  liberty,  upon  a  general 
principle,  upon  a  constitutional  principle,  it  is  a 


RIGHT  OF   TAXATION.  Ill 

ground  on  which  I  stand  firm — on  which  I  dare 
meet  any  man.  The  gentleman  tells  us  of  many 
who  are  taxed,  and  are  not  represented — the 
India  company,  merchants,  stockholders,  man- 
ufacturers. Surely  many  of  these  are  repre- 
sented in  other  capacities,  as  owners  of  land,  or 
as  freemen  of  boroughs.  It  is  a  misfortune 
that  more  are  not  equally  represented.  But 
they  are  all  inhabitants,  and  as  such,  are  they 
not  virtually  represented?  Many  have  it  in 
their  option  to  be  actually  represented.  They 
have  connections  with  those  that  elect,  and 
they  have  influence  over  them.  The  gentleman 
mentioned  the  stockholders.  I  hope  he  does 
not  reckon  the  debts  of  the  nation  as  a  part  of 
the  national  estate. 

Since  the  accession  of  King  William,  many 
ministers,  some  of  great,  others  of  more  moder- 
ate abilities,  have  taken  the  lead  of  government. 
[Here  Mr.  Pitt  went  through  the  list  of  them, 
bringing  it  down  till  he  came  to  himself,  giving 
a  short  sketch  of  the  characters  of  each,  and 
then  proceeded :]  None  of  these  thought,  or  even 
dreamed,  of  robbing  the  colonies  of  their  con- 
stitutional rights.  That  was  reserved  to  mark 
the  era  of  the  late  administration.  Not  that 
there  were  wanting  some,  when  I  had  the 


112  LORD   CHATHAM. 

honor  to  serve  his  Majesty,  to  propose  to  me 
to  burn  my  fingers  with  an  American  stamp 
act.  With  the  enemy  at  their  back,  with  our 
bayonets  at  their  breasts,  in  the  day  of  their 
distress,  perhaps  the  Americans  would  have 
submitted  to  the  imposition  ;  but  it  would  have 
been  taking  an  ungenerous,  an  unjust  advan- 
tage. The  gentleman  boasts  of  his  bounties  to 
America!  Are  not  these  bounties  intended 
finally  for  the  benefit  of  this  kingdom  ?  If 
they  are  not,  he  has  misapplied  the  national 
treasures ! 

I  am  no  courtier  of  America.  I  stand  up  for 
this  kingdom.  I  maintain  that  the  Parliament 
has  a  right  to  bind,  to  restrain  America.  Our 
legislative  power  over  the  colonies  is  sovereign 
and  supreme.  When  it  ceases  to  be  sovereign 
and  supreme,  I  would  advise  every  gentleman 
to  sell  his  lands,  if  he  can,  and  embark  for  that 
country.  When  two  countries  are  connected 
together  like  England  and  her  colonies,  with- 
out being  incorporated,  the  one  must  necessa- 
rily govern.  The  greater  must  rule  the  less. 
But  she  must  so  rule  it  as  not  to  contradict  the 
fundamental  principles  that  are  common  to 
both. 

If  the  gentleman   does  not  understand  the 


RIGHT  OF   TAXATION.  113 

difference  between  external  and  internal  taxes, 
I  cannot  help  it.  There  is  a  plain  distinction 
between  taxes  levied  for  the  purposes  of  raising 
a  revenue,  and  duties  imposed  for  the  regula- 
tion of  trade,  for  the  accommodation  of  the 
subject ;  although,  in  the  consequences,  some 
revenue  may  incidentally  arise  from  the 
latter. 

The  gentleman  asks,  When  were  the  colonies 
emancipated  ?  I  desire  to  know,  when  were 
they  made  slaves?  But  I  dwell  not  upon 
words.  When  I  had  the  honor  of  serving  his 
Majesty,  I  availed  myself  of  the  means  of  in- 
formation which  I  derived  from  my  office.  I 
speak,  therefore,  from  knowledge.  My  materi- 
als were  good.  I  was  at  pains  to  collect,  to 
digest,  to  consider  them ;  and  I  will  be  bold  to 
affirm,  that  the  profits  to  Great  Britain  from  the 
trade  of  the  colonies,  through  all  its  branches, 
is  two  millions  a  year.  This  is  the  fund  that 
carried  you  triumphantly  through  the  last  war. 
The  estates  that  were  rented  at  two  thousand 
pounds  a  year,  threescore  years  ago,  are  at 
three  thousand  at  present.  Those  estates  sold 
then  from  fifteen  to  eighteen  years  purchase  ; 
the  same  may  now  be  sold  for  thirty.  You 
owe  this  to  America.  This  is  the  price  Amer- 


114  LORD   CHATHAM. 

ica  pays  you  for  her  protection.  And  shall  a  mis- 
erable financier  come  with  a  boast,  that  he  can 
bring  "  a  pepper-corn  "  into  the  exchequer  by 
the  loss  of  millions  to  the  nation?80  I  dare 
not  say  how  much  higher  these  profits  may 
be  augmented.  Omitting  [z.  e.,  not  taking  into 
account]  the  immense  increase  of  people,  by 
natural  population,  in  the  northern  colonies, 
and  the  emigration  from  every  part  of  Europe, 
I  am  convinced  on  other  grounds  that  the 
commercial  system  of  America  may  be  altered 
to  advantage.  You  have  prohibited  where  you 
ought  to  have  encouraged.  You  have  encour- 
aged where  you  ought  to  have  prohibited.  Im- 
proper restraints  have  been  laid  on  the  conti- 
nent in  favor  of  the  islands.  You  have  but  two 
nations  to  trade  with  in  America.  Would  you 
had  twenty !  Let  acts  of  Parliament  in  conse- 
quence of  treaties  remain ;  but  let  not  an  Eng- 
lish minister  become  a  custom-house  officer  for 
Spain,  or  for  any  foreign  power.  Much  is 
wrong !  Much  may  be  amended  for  the  gen- 
eral good  of  the  whole  ! 

Does  the  gentleman  complain  he  has  been 
misrepresented  in  the  public  prints  ?  It  is  a 
common  misfortune.  In  the  Spanish  affair  of 
the  last  war,  I  was  abused  in  all  the  newspapers 


RIGHT  OF   TAXATION.  115 

for  having  advised  his  Majesty  to  violate  the  laws 
of  nations  with  regard  to  Spain.  The  abuse  was 
industriously  circulated  even  in  hand-bills.  If 
administration  did  not  propagate  the  abuse,  ad- 
ministration never  contradicted  it.  I  will  not 
say  what  advice  I  did  give  the  King.  My  ad- 
vice is  in  writing,  signed  by  myself,  in  the  pos- 
session of  the  Crown.  But  I  will  say  what  ad- 
vice I  did  not  give  to  the  King.  I  did  not 
advise  him  to  violate  any  of  the  laws  of 
nations. 

As  to  the  report  of  the  gentleman's  prevent- 
ing in  some  way  the  trade  for  bullion  with  the 
Spaniards,  it  was  spoken  of  so  confidently  that  I 
own  I  am  one  of  those  who  did  believe  it  to  be 
true. 

The  gentleman  must  not  wonder  he  was  not 
contradicted  when,  as  minister,  he  asserted  the 
right  of  Parliament  to  tax  America.  I  know 
not  how  it  is,  but  there  is  a  modesty  in  this 
House  which  does  not  choose  to  contradict  a 
minister.  Even  your  chair,  sir,  looks  too  often 
toward  St.  James'.  I  wish  gentlemen  would 
get  the  better  of  this  modesty.  If  they  do  not, 
perhaps  the  collective  body  may  begin  to  abate 
of  its  respect  for  the  representative.  Lord  Ba- 
con has  told  me,  that  a  great  question  would  not 


Il6  LORD   CHATHAM. 

fail  of  being  agitated  at  one  time  or  another.  I 
was  willing  to  agitate  such  a  question  at  the 
proper  season,  viz.,  that  of  the  German  war — 
my  German  war,  they  called  it  !  Every  session 
I  called  out,  Has  any  body  any  objection  to  the 
German  war?  Nobody  would  object  to  it,  one 
gentleman  only  excepted,  since  removed  to  the 
Upper  House  by  succession  to  an  ancient  bar- 
ony [Lord  Le  Despencer,  formerly  Sir  Francis 
Dashwood].  He  told  me  he  did  not  like  a  Ger- 
man war.  I  honored  the  man  for  it,  and  was 
sorry  when  he  was  turned  out  of  his  post. 

A  great  deal  has  been  said  without  doors  of 
the  power,  of  the  strength  of  America  It  is  a 
topic  that  ought  to  be  cautiously  meddled  with. 
In  a  good  cause,  on  a  sound  bottom,  the  force 
of  this  country  can  crush  America  to  atoms.  I 
know  the  valor  of  your  troops.  I  know  the  skill 
of  your  officers.  There  is  not  a  company  of  foot 
that  has  served  in  America,  out  of  which  you 
may  not  pick  a  man  of  sufficient  knowledge  and 
experience  to  make  a  governor  of  a  colony  there. 
But  on  this  ground,  on  the  Stamp  Act,  which  so 
many  here  will  think  a  crying  injustice,  I  am 
one  who  will  lift  up  my  hands  against  it. 

In  such  a  cause,  your  success  would  be  haz- 
ardous. America,  if  she  fell,  would  fall  like  the 


RIGHT  OF  TAXATION.  1 1/ 

strong  man  ;  she  would  embrace  the  pillars  of 
the  State,  and  pull  down  the  Constitution  along 
with  her.  Is  this  your  boasted  peace — not  to 
sheathe  the  sword  in  its  scabbard,  but  to  sheathe 
it  in  the  bowels  of  your  countrymen  ?  Will  you 
quarrel  with  yourselves,  now  the  whole  house  of 
Bourbon  is  united  against  you ;  while  France 
disturbs  your  fisheries  in  Newfoundland,  embar- 
rasses your  slave  trade  to  Africa,  and  withholds 
from  your  subjects  in  Canada  their  property 
stipulated  by  treaty ;  while  the  ransom  for  the 
Manillas  is  denied  by  Spain,  and  its  gallant  con- 
queror basely  traduced  into  a  mean  plunderer ; 
a  gentleman  [Colonel  Draper]  whose  noble  and 
generous  spirit  would  do  honor  to  the  proudest 
grandee  of  the  country  ?  The  Americans  have 
not  acted  in  all  things  with  prudence  and  tem- 
per :  they  have  been  wronged  :  they  have  been 
driven  to  madness  by  injustice.  Will  you  pun- 
ish them  for  the  madness  you  have  occasioned? 
Rather  let  prudence  and  temper  come  first 
from  this  side.  I  will  undertake  for  America 
that  she  will  follow  the  example.  There  are 
two  lines  in  a  ballad  of  Prior's,  of  a  man's 
behavior  to  his  wife,  so  applicable  to  you  and 
your  colonies,  that  I  can  not  help  repeating 
them  : 


Il8  LORD    CHATHAM. 

"Be  to  her  faults  a  little  blind  ; 
Be  to  her  virtues  very  kind." 

Upon  the  whole,  I  will  beg  leave  to  tell  the 
House  what  is  my  opinion.  It  is,  that  the 
Stamp  Act  be  repealed  absolutely,  totally,  and 
immediately.  That  the  reason  for  the  repeal 
be  assigned,  viz.,  because  it  was  founded  on  an 
erroneous  principle.  At  the  same  time,  let  the 
sovereign  authority  of  this  country  over  the 
colonies  be  asserted  in  as  strong  terms  as  can 
be  devised,  and  be  made  to  extend  to  every 
point  of  legislation  whatsoever ;  that  we  may 
bind  their  trade,  confine  their  manufactures,  and 
exercise  every  power  whatsoever,  except  that 
of  taking  their  money  out  of  their  pockets  with- 
out their  consent. 

Notwithstanding  the  advice  of  Pitt,  the  government  pushed 
on  in  its  mad  course.  The  Stamp  Act  had  to  be  repealed  ; 
but  accompanying  the  repeal  was  a  declaration  that  Parliament 
had  the  power  and  the  right  "  to  bind  the  colonies  and  people 
of  America  in  all  cases  whatsoever."  This  was  the  very  posi- 
tion that  the  Colonies  had  denied.  It  was  not  so  much  the 
tax  as  the  right  to  tax  that  the  Americans  questioned.  When 
the  resolution  reached  the  House  of  Peers,  Lord  Camden  sus- 
tained the  American  view.  He  said  :  "  My  position  is  this, — 
I  repeat  it — I  will  maintain  to  the  last  hour,  taxation  and  rep- 
resentation are  inseparable.  This  position  is  founded  on  the 
law  of  nature.  It  is  more,  it  is  in  itself  an  eternal  law  of 
nature.  For  whatever  is  a  man's  own  is  absolutely  his  own. 


RIGHT  OF   TAXATION.  119 

No  man  has  a  right  to  take  it  from  him  without  his  consent 
either  expressed  by  himself  or  his  representative.  Whoever 
attempts  to  do  this  attempts  an  injury.  Whoever  does  it, 
commits  a  robbery."  Lord  Mansfield,  however,  as  we  shail 
see,  took  the  opposite  ground,  and  the  opposite  ground  pre- 
vailed. The  consequence  was  that  the  Colonies  were  lost. 


LORD  CHATHAM. 


ON     AN     ADDRESS    TO     THE     THRONE     CONCERNING 

AFFAIRS   IN    AMERICA.       HOUSE    OF    LORDS, 

NOVEMBER  1 8,  1777. 

Though  at  the  delivery  of  this  speech  Chatham  had  already 
entered  upon  his  seventieth  year,  he  seems  to  have  been  inspired 
with  all  the  fire  of  his  youth.  It  is  by  most  critics  regarded  as 
his  greatest  effort.  Chatham  had  abundant  reason  for  an  ex- 
traordinary affection  for  America,  and,  as  he  saw  that  a  per- 
sistence in  the  mad  course  entered  upon  would  inevitably 
result  in  a  loss  of  the  colonies,  he  brought  all  his  powers  to  an 
advocacy  of  a  treaty  of  peace  on  such  terms  as  would  at  once 
save  the  colonies  and  the  honor  of  the  mother  country.  It  is 
the  only  speech  of  Chatham,  the  report  of  which  was  corrected 
by  himself  and  published  with  his  approval. 

I  rise,  my  Lords,  to  declare  my  sentiments 
on  this  most  solemn  and  serious  subject.  It 
has  imposed  a  load  upon  my  mind,  which,  I 
fear,  nothing  can  remove,  but  which  impels  me 
to  endeavor  its  alleviation,  by  a  free  and  unre- 
served communication  of  my  sentiments. 

In  the  first  part  of  the  address,  I  have  the 
honor  of  heartily  concurring  with  the  noble 

120 


AFFAIRS  IN  AMERICA.  121 

Earl  who  moved  it.  No  man  feels  sincerer  joy 
than  I  do ;  none  can  offer  more  genuine  con- 
gratulations on  every  accession  of  strength  to 
the  Protestant  succession.  I  therefore  join  in 
every  congratulation  on  the  birth  of  another 
princess,  and  the  happy  recovery  of  her 
Majesty. 

But  I  must  stop  here.  My  courtly  complai- 
sance will  carry  me  no  farther.  I  will  not  join 
in  congratulation  on  misfortune  and  disgrace. 
I  cannot  concur  in  a  blind  and  servile  address, 
which  approves  and  endeavors  to  sanctify  the 
monstrous  measures  which  have  heaped  dis- 
grace and  misfortune  upon  us.  This,  my  Lords, 
is  a  perilous  and  tremendous  moment!  It  is 
not  a  time  for  adulation.  The  smoothness  of 
flattery  cannot  now  avail — cannot  save  us  in 
this  rugged  and  awful  crisis.  It  is  now  neces- 
sary to  instruct  the  Throne  in  the  language  of 
truth.  We  must  dispel  the  illusion  and  the 
darkness  which  envelop  it,  and  display,  in  its 
full  danger  and  true  colors,  the  ruin  that  is 
brought  to  our  doors. 

This,  my  Lords,  is  our  duty.  It  is  the 
proper  function  of  this  noble  assembly,  sitting, 
as  we  do,  upon  our  honors  in  this  House,  the 
hereditary  council  of  the  Crown.  Who  is  the 


122  LORD  CHATHAM. 

minister — where  is  the  minister,  that  has  dared 
to  suggest  to  the  Throne  the  contrary,  uncon- 
stitutional language  this  day  delivered  from  it  ? 
The  accustomed  language  from  the  Throne  has 
been  application  to  Parliament  for  advice,  and 
a  reliance  on  its  constitutional  advice  and  as- 
sistance. As  it  is  the  right  of  Parliament  to 
give,  so  it  is  the  duty  of  the  Crown  to  ask  it. 
But  on  this  day,  and  in  this  extreme  moment- 
ous exigency,  no  reliance  is  reposed  on  our 
constitutional  counsels !  no  advice  is  asked 
from  the  sober  and  enlightened  care  of  Parlia- 
ment !  but  the  Crown,  from  itself  and  by  itself, 
declares  an  unalterable  determination  to  pursue 
measures — and  what  measures,  my  Lords? 
The  measures  that  have  produced  the  immi- 
nent perils  that  threaten  us  ;  the  measures  that 
have  brought  ruin  to  our  doors. 

Can  the  minister  of  the  day  now  presume  to 
expect  a  continuance  of  support  in  this  ruinous 
infatuation  ?  Can  Parliament  be  so  dead  tr  its 
dignity  and  its  duty  as  to  be  thus  deluded  into 
the  loss  of  the  one  and  the  violation  of  the 
other  ?  To  give  an  unlimited  credit  and  sup- 
port for  the  steady  perseverance  in  measures 
not  proposed  for  our  parliamentary  advice,  but 
dictated  and  forced  upon  us — in  measures,  I 


AFFAIRS  IN  AMERICA.  123 

say,  my  Lords,  which  have  reduced  this  late 
flourishing  empire  to  ruin  and  contempt  ! 
"  But  yesterday,  and  England  might  have 
stood  against  the  world  :  now  none  so  poor  to 
do  her  reverence."  I  use  the  words  of  a  poet ; 
but,  though  it  be  poetry,  it  is  no  fiction.  It  is 
a  shameful  truth,  that  not  only  the  power  and 
strength  of  this  country  are  wasting  away  and 
expiring,  but  her  well-earned  glories,  her  true 
honor,  and  substantial  dignity  are  sacrificed. 

France,  my  Lords,  has  insulted  you ;  she 
has  encouraged  and  sustained  America;  and, 
whether  America  be  wrong  or  right,  the  dignity 
of  this  country  ought  to  spurn  at  the  officious 
insult  of  French  interference.  The  ministers 
and  embassadors  of  those  who  are  called  rebels 
and  enemies  are  in  Paris  ;  in  Paris  they  transact 
the  reciprocal  interests  of  America  and  France. 
Can  there  be  a  more  mortifying  insult  ?  Can 
even  our  ministers  sustain  a  more  humiliating 
disgrace?  Do  they  dare  to  resent  it?  Do  they 
presume  even  to  hint  a  vindicatien  of  their 
honor,  and  the  dignity  of  the  State,  by  requir- 
ing the  dismission  of  the  plenipotentiaries  of 
America  ?  Such  is  the  degradation  to  which 
they  have  reduced  the  glories  of  England  ! 
The  people  whom  they  affect  to  call  con- 


124  LORD   CHATHAM, 

temptible  rebels,  but  whose  growing  power  has 
at  last  obtained  the  name  of  enemies ;  the  peo- 
ple with  whom  they  have  engaged  this  country 
in  war,  and  against  whom  they  now  command 
our  implicit  support  in  every  measure  of  des- 
perate hostility — this  people,  despised  as  rebels, 
or  acknowledged  as  enemies,  are  abetted  against 
you,  supplied  with  every  military  store,  their 
interests  consulted,  and  their  embassadors  en- 
tertained, by  your  inveterate  enemy!  and  our 
ministers  dare  not  interpose  with  dignity  or 
effect.  Is  this  the  honor  of  a  great  kingdom  ? 
Is  this  the  indignant  spirit  of  England,  who 
"  but  yesterday "  gave  law  to  the  house  of 
Bourbon?  My  Lords,  the  dignity  of  nations 
demands  a  decisive  conduct  in  a  situation  like 
this.  Even  when  the  greatest  prince  that  per- 
haps this  country  ever  saw  rilled  our  Throne, 
the  requisition  of  a  Spanish  general,  on  a  similar 
subject,  was  attended  to  and  complied  with ; 
for,  on  the  spirited  remonstrance  of  the  Duke 
of  Alva,  Elizabeth  found  herself  obliged  to 
deny  the  Flemish  exiles  all  countenance,  sup- 
port, or  even  entrance  into  her  dominions ;  and 
the  Count  Le  Marque,  with  his  few  desperate 
followers,  were  expelled  the  kingdom.  Hap- 
pening to  arrive  at  the  Brille,  and  finding  it 


AFFAIRS  IN  AMERICA.  12$ 

weak  in  defence,  they  made  themselves  masters 
of  the  place ;  and  this  was  the  foundation  of 
the  United  Provinces. 

My  Lords,  this  ruinous  and  ignominious  sit- 
uation, where  we  can  not  act  with  success,  nor 
suffer  with  honor,  calls  upon  us  to  remonstrate 
in  the  strongest  and  loudest  language  of  truth, 
to  rescue  the  ear  of  majesty  from  the  delusions 
which  surround  it.  The  desperate  state  of  our 
arms  abroad  is  in  part  known.  No  man  thinks 
more  highly  of  them  than  I  do.  I  love  and 
honor  the  English  troops.  I  know  their  virtues 
and  their  valor.  I  know  they  can  achieve  any 
thing  except  impossibilities  ;  and  I  know  that 
the  conquest  of  English  America  is  an  impossi- 
bility. You  cannot,  I  venture  to  say  it,  you  can- 
not conquer  America.  Your  armies  in  the  last 
war  effected  every  thing  that  could  be  effected ; 
and  what  was  it  ?  It  cost  a  numerous  army, 
under  the  command  of  a  most  able  general 
[Lord  Amherst],  now  a  noble  Lord  in  this 
House,  a  long  and  laborious  campaign,  to  expel 
five  thousand  Frenchmen  from  French  America. 
My  Lords,  you  cannot  conquer  America.  What 
is  your  present  situation  there  ?  We  do  not 
know  the  worst ;  but  we  know  that  in  three 
campaigns  we  have  done  nothing  and  suffered 


126  LORD   CHATHAM. 

much.  Besides  the  sufferings,  perhaps  total 
loss  of  the  Northern  force,31  the  best  appointed 
army  that  ever  took  the  field,  commanded  by 
Sir  William  Howe,  has  retired  from  the  Ameri- 
can lines.  He  was  obliged  to  relinquish  his  at- 
tempt, and  with  great  delay  and  danger  to 
adopt  a  new  and  distant  plan  of  operations. 
We  shall  soon  know,  and  in  any  event  have 
reason  to  lament,  what  may  have  happened 
since.  As  to  conquest,  therefore,  my  Lords,  I 
repeat,  it  is  impossible.  You  may  swell  every 
expense  and  every  effort  still  more  extrava- 
gantly ;  pile  and  accumulate  every  assistance 
you  can  buy  or  borrow ;  traffic  and  barter  with 
every  little  pitiful  German  prince  that  sells  and 
sends  his  subjects  to  the  shambles  of  a  foreign 
prince  ;  your  efforts  are  forever  vain  and  im- 
potent— doubly  so  from  this  mercenary  aid  on 
which  you  rely ;  for  it  irritates,  to  an  incurable 
resentment,  the  minds  of  your  enemies,  to 
overrun  them  with  the  mercenary  sons  of  rapine 
and  plunder,  devoting  them  and  their  posses- 
sions to  the  rapacity  of  hireling  cruelty  !  If  I 
were  an  American,  as  I  am  an  Englishman, 
while  a  foreign  troop  was  landed  in  my  coun- 
try, I  never  would  lay  down  my  arms — never — • 
never — never. 


AFFAIRS  IN  AMERICA.  12? 

Your  own  army  is  infected  with  the  contagion 
of  these  illiberal  allies.  The  spirit  of  plunder 
and  of  rapine  is  gone  forth  among  them.  I 
know  it ;  and,  notwithstanding  what  the  noble 
Earl  [Lord  Percy]  who  moved  the  address  has 
given  as  his  opinion  of  the  American  army,  I 
know  from  authentic  information,  and  the  most 
experienced  officers,  that  our  discipline  is  deeply 
wounded.  While  this  is  notoriously  our  sink- 
ing situation,  America  grows  and  flourishes ; 
while  our  strength  and  discipline  are  lowered, 
hers  are  rising  and  improving. 

But,  my  Lords,  who  is  the  man  that,  in  addi- 
tion to  these  disgraces  and  mischiefs  of  our 
army,  has  dared  to  authorize  and  associate  to 
our  arms  the  tomahawk  and  scalping-knife  of 
the  savage?  to  call  into  civilized  alliance  the 
wild  and  inhuman  savage  of  the  woods  ;  to  del- 
egate to  the  merciless  Indian  the  defence  of 
disputed  rights,  and  to  wage  the  horrors  of  his 
barbarous  war  against  our  brethren  ?  My 
Lords,  these  enormities  cry  aloud  for  redress 
and  punishment.  Unless  thoroughly  done 
away,  it  will  be  a  stain  on  the  national  charac- 
ter. It  is  a  violation  of  the  Constitution.  I 
believe  it  is  against  law.  It  is  not  the  least  of 
our  national  misfortunes  that  the  strength  and 


128  LORD   CHATHAM. 

character  of  our  army  are  thus  impaired.  In- 
fected with  the  mercenary  spirit  of  robbery  and 
rapine ;  familiarized  to  the  horrid  scenes  of 
savage  cruelty,  it  can  no  longer  boast  of  the 
noble  and  generous  principles  which  dignify  a 
soldier  ;  no  longer  sympathize  with  the  dignity 
of  the  royal  banner,  nor  feel  the  pride,  pomp, 
and  circumstance  of  glorious  war,  "  that  make 
ambition  virtue !  "  What  makes  ambition 
virtue? — the  sense  of  honor.  But  is  the  sense 
of  honor  consistent  with  a  spirit  of  plunder,  or 
the  practice  of  murder  ?  Can  it  flow  from  mer- 
cenary motives,  or  can  it  prompt  to  cruel 
deeds?  Besides  these  murderers  and  plunder- 
ers, let  me  ask  our  ministers,  What  other  allies 
have  they  acquired  ?  What  other  powers  have 
they  associated  in  their  cause  ?  Have  they 
entered  into  alliance  with  the  king  of  the  gip- 
sies ?  Nothing,  my  Lords,  is  too  low  or  too 
ludicrous  to  be  consistent  with  their  counsels. 

The  independent  views  of  America  have  been 
stated  and  asserted  as  the  foundation  of  this 
address.  My  Lords,  no  man  wishes  for  the  due 
dependence  of  America  on  this  country  more 
than  I  do.  To  preserve  it,  and  not  confirm 
that  state  of  independence  into  which  your 
measures  hitherto  have  driven  them,  is  the  ob- 


AFFAIRS  IN  AMERICA.  129 

ject  which  we  ought  to  unite  in  attaining.  The 
Americans,  contending  for  their  rights  against 
arbitrary  exactions,  I  love  and  admire.  It  is 
the  struggle  of  free  and  virtuous  patriots.  But, 
contending  for  independency  and  total  discon- 
nection from  England,  as  an  Englishman,  I 
cannot  wish  them  success  ;  for  in  a  due  consti- 
tutional dependency,  including  the  ancient  su- 
premacy of  this  country  in  regulating  their 
commerce  and  navigation,  consists  the  mutual 
happiness  and  prosperity  both  of  England  and 
America.  She  derived  assistance  and  protec- 
tion from  us ;  and  we  reaped  from  her  the 
most  important  advantages.  She  was,  indeed, 
the  fountain  of  our  wealth,  the  nerve  of  our 
strength,  the  nursery  and  basis  of  our  naval 
power.  It  is  our  duty,  therefore,  my  Lords,  if 
we  wish  to  save  our  country,  most  seriously  to 
endeavor  the  recovery  of  these  most  beneficial 
subjects  ;  and  in  this  perilous  crisis,  perhaps  the 
present  moment  may  be  the  only  one  in  which 
we  can  hope  for  success.  For  in  their  negotia- 
tions with  France,  they  have,  or  think  they 
have,  reason  to  complain  ;  though  it  be  no- 
torious that  they  have  received  from  that 
power  important  supplies  and  assistance  of 
various  kinds,  yet  it  is  certain  they  expected  it 


I3O  LORD   CHATHAM. 

in  a  more  decisive  and  immediate  degree. 
America  is  in  ill  humor  with  France ;  on  some 
points  they  have  not  entirely  answered  her  ex- 
pectations. Let  us  wisely  take  advantage  of 
every  possible  moment  of  reconciliation.  Be- 
sides, the  natural  disposition  of  America  herself 
still  leans  toward  England  ;  to  the  old  habits 
of  connection  and  mutual  interest  that  united 
both  countries.  This  was  the  established  sen- 
timent of  all  the  Continent  ;  and  still,  my 
Lords,  in  the  great  and  principal  part,  the 
sound  part  of  America,  this  wise  and  affection- 
ate disposition  prevails.  And  there  is  a  very 
considerable  part  of  America  yet  sound — the 
middle  and  the  southern  provinces.  Some 
parts  may  be  factious  and  blind  to  their  true 
interests ;  but  if  we  express  a  wise  and  benevo- 
lent disposition  to  communicate  with  them 
those  immutable  rights  of  nature  and  those 
constitutional  liberties  to  which  they  are  equally 
entitled  with  ourselves,  by  a  conduct  so  just 
and  humane  we  shall  confirm  the  favorable  and 
conciliate  the  adverse.  I  say,  my  Lords,  the 
rights  and  liberties  to  which  they  are  equally 
entitled  with  ourselves,  but  no  more.  I  would 
participate  to  them  every  enjoyment  and  free- 
dom which  the  colonizing  subjects  of  a  free 


AFFAIRS  IN  AMERICA.  131 

state  can  possess,  or  wish  to  possess  ;  and  I  do 
not  see  why  they  should  not  enjoy  every  fun- 
damental right  in  their  property,  and  every 
original  substantial  liberty,  which  Devonshire, 
or  Surrey,  or  the  county  I  live  in,  or  any  other 
county  in  England,  can  claim  ;  reserving  always, 
as  the  sacred  right  of  the  mother  country,  the 
due  constitutional  dependency  of  the  colonies. 
The  inherent  supremacy  of  the  state  in  regu- 
lating and  protecting  the  navigation  and  com- 
merce of  all  her  subjects,  is  necessary  for  the 
mutual  benefit  and  preservation  of  every  part, 
to  constitute  and  preserve  the  prosperous  ar- 
rangement of  the  whole  empire. 

The  sound  parts  of  America,  of  which  I  have 
spoken,  must  be  sensible  of  these  great  truths 
and  of  their  real  interests.  America  is  not  in 
that  state  of  desperate  and  contemptible  rebel- 
lion which  this  country  has  been  deluded  to 
believe.  It  is  not  a  wild  and  lawless  banditti, 
who,  having  nothing  to  lose,  might  hope  to 
snatch  something  from  public  convulsions. 
Many  of  their  leaders  and  great  men  have  a 
great  stake  in  this  great  contest.  The  gentle- 
man who  conducts  their  armies,  I  am  told,  has 
an  estate  of  four  or  five  thousand  pounds  a 
year;  and  when  I  consider  these  things,  I  can- 


132  LORD   CHATHAM. 

not  but  lament  the  inconsiderate  violence  of 
our  penal  acts,  our  declaration  of  treason  and 
rebellion,  with  all  the  fatal  effects  of  attainder 
and  confiscation. 

As  to  the  disposition  of  foreign  powers  which 
is  asserted  [in  the  King's  speech]  to  be  pacific 
and  friendly,  let  us  judge,  my  Lords,  rather  by 
their  actions  and  the  nature  of  things  than  by 
interested  assertions.  The  uniform  assistance 
supplied  to  America  by  France  suggests  a  dif- 
ferent conclusion.  The  most  important  inter- 
ests of  France  in  aggrandizing  and  enriching 
herself  with  what  she  most  wants,  supplies  of 
every  naval  store  from  America,  must  inspire 
her  with  different  sentiments.  The  extra- 
ordinary preparations  of  the  House  of  Bourbon, 
by  land  and  by  sea,  from  Dunkirk  to  the  Straits, 
equally  ready  and  willing  to  overwhelm  these 
defenceless  islands,  should  rouse  us  to  a  sense 
of  their  real  disposition  and  our  own  danger.32 
Not  five  thousand  troops  in  England  !  hardly 
three  thousand  in  Ireland  !  What  can  we  op- 
pose to  the  combined  force  of  our  enemies? 
Scarcely  twenty  ships  of  the  line  so  fully  or 
sufficiently  manned,  that  any  admiral's  reputa- 
tion would  permit  him  to  take  the  command  of. 
The  river  of  Lisbon  in  the  possession  of  our 


AFFAIRS  IN  AMERICA.  133 

enemies  !  The  seas  swept  by  American  priva- 
teers !  Our  Channel  trade  torn  to  pieces  by 
them  !  In  this  complicated  crisis  of  danger, 
weakness  at  home,  and  calamity  abroad,  ter- 
rified and  insulted  by  the  neighboring  powers, 
unable  to  act  in  America,  or  acting  only  to  be 
destroyed,  where  is  the  man  with  the  forehead 
to  promise  or  hope  for  success  in  such  a  situa- 
tion, or  from  perseverence  in  the  measures  that 
have  driven  us  to  it  ?  Who  has  the  forehead 
to  do  so  ?  Where  is  that  man  ?  I  should  be 
glad  to  see  his  face. 

You  can  not  conciliate  America  by  your  pres- 
ent measures.  You  cannot  subdue  her  by  your 
present  or  by  any  measures.  What,  then,  can 
you  do  ?  You  cannot  conquer ;  you  cannot 
gain;  but  you  can  address;  you  can  lull  the 
fears  and  anxieties  of  the  moment  into  an  ig- 
norance of  the  danger  that  should  produce 
them.  But,  my  Lords,  the  time  demands  the 
language  of  truth.  We  must  not  now  apply 
the  flattering  unction  of  servile  compliance  or 
blind  complaisance.  In  a  just  and  necessary 
war,  to  maintain  the  rights  or  honor  of  my 
country,  I  would  strip  the  shirt  from  my  back  to 
support  it.  But  in  such  a  war  as  this,  unjust 
in  its  principle,  impracticable  in  its  means,  and 


134  LORD   CHATHAM. 

ruinous  in  its  consequences,  I  would  not  con- 
tribute a  single  effort  nor  a  single  shilling.  I 
do  not  call  for  vengeance  on  the  heads  of  those 
who  have  been  guilty  ;  I  only  recommend  to 
them  to  make  their  retreat.  Let  them  walk  off ; 
and  let  them  make  haste,  or  they  may  be  as- 
sured that  speedy  and  condign  punishment  will 
overtake  them. 

My  Lords,  I  have  submitted  to  you,  with 
the  freedom  and  truth  which  I  think  my  duty, 
my  sentiments  on  your  present  awful  situation. 
I  have  laid  before  you  the  ruin  of  your  power, 
the  disgrace  of  your  reputation,  the  pollution 
of  your  discipline,  the  contamination  of  your 
morals,  the  complication  of  calamities,  foreign 
and  domestic,  that  overwhelm  your  sinking 
country.  Your  dearest  interests,  your  own 
liberties,  the  Constitution  itself,  totters  to  the 
foundation.  All  this  disgraceful  danger,  this 
multitude  of  misery,  is  the  monstrous  offspring 
of  this  unnatural  war.  We  have  been  deceived 
and  deluded  too  long.  Let  us  now  stop  short. 
This  is  the  crisis — the  only  crisis  of  time  and 
situation,  to  give  us  a  possibility  of  escape  from 
the  fatal  effects  of  our  delusions.  But  if,  in  an 
obstinate  and  infatuated  perseverance  in  folly, 
we  slavishly  echo  the  peremptory  words  this 


AFFAIRS  IN  AMERICA.  135 

day  presented  to  us,  nothing  can  save  this  de- 
voted country  from  complete  and  final  ruin. 
We  madly  rush  into  multiplied  miseries,  and 
"confusion  worse  confounded." 

Is  it  possible,  can  it  be  believed,  that  minis- 
ters are  yet  blind  to  this  impending  destruction  ? 
I  did  hope,  that  instead  of  this  false  and  empty 
vanity,  this  overweening  pride,  engendering 
high  conceits  and  presumptuous  imaginations, 
ministers  would  have  humbled  themselves  in 
their  errors,  would  have  confessed  and  retracted 
them,  and  by  an  active,  though  a  late,  repen- 
tance, have  endeavored  to  redeem  them.  But, 
my  Lords,  since  they  had  neither  sagacity 
to  foresee,  nor  justice  nor  humanity  to  shun 
these  oppressive  calamities — since  not  even  se- 
vere experience  can  make  them  feel,  nor  the 
imminent  ruin  of  their  country  awaken  them 
from  their  stupefaction,  the  guardian  care  of 
Parliament  must  interpose.  I  shall,  therefore, 
my  Lords,  propose  to  you  an  amendment  of 
the  address  to  his  Majesty,  to  be  inserted  im- 
mediately after  the  two  first  paragraphs  of  con- 
gratulation on  the  birth  of  a  princess,  to  recom- 
mend an  immediate  cessation  of  hostilities,  and 
the  commencement  of  a  treaty  to  restore  peace 
and  liberty  to  America,  strength  and  happiness 


136  LORD   CHATHAM. 

to  England,  security  and  permanent  prosperity 
to  both  countries.  This,  my  Lords,  is  yet  in 
our  power  ;  and  let  not  the  wisdom  and  justice 
of  your  Lordships  neglect  the  happy,  and,  per- 
haps, the  only  opportunity.  By  the  establish- 
ment of  irrevocable  law,  founded  on  mutual 
rights,  and  ascertained  by  treaty,  these  glorious 
enjoyments  may  be  firmly  perpetuated.  And 
let  me  repeat  to  your  Lordships,  that  the 
strong  bias  of  America,  at  least  of  the  wise  and 
sounder  parts  of  it,  naturally  inclines  to  this 
happy  and  constitutional  reconnection  with  you. 
Notwithstanding  the  temporary  intrigues  with 
France,  we  may  still  be  assured  of  their  ancient 
and  confirmed  partiality  to  us.  America  and 
France  cannot  be  congenial.  There  is  some- 
thing decisive  and  confirmed  in  the  honest 
American,  that  will  not  assimilate  to  the  futility 
and  levity  of  Frenchmen. 

My  Lords,  to  encourage  and  confirm  that  in- 
nate inclination  to  this  country,  founded  on 
every  principle  of  affection,  as  well  as  considera- 
tion of  interest ;  to  restore  that  favorable  dis- 
position into  a  permanent  and  powerful  reunion 
with  this  country ;  to  revive  the  mutual 
strength  of  the  empire ;  again  to  awe  the  House 
of  Bourbon,  instead  of  meanly  truckling,  as 


AFFAIRS  IN  AMERICA,  137 

our  present  calamities  compel  us,  to  every  in- 
sult ot  French  caprice  and  Spanish  punctilio ; 
to  re-establish  our  commerce  ;  to  reassert  our 
rights  and  our  honor ;  to  confirm  our  interests, 
and  renew  our  glories  forever — a  consummation 
most  devoutly  to  be  endeavored  !  and  which,  I 
trust,  may  yet  arise  from  reconciliation  with 
America — I  have  the  honor  of  submitting  to 
you  the  following  amendment,  which  I  move  to 
be  inserted  after  the  two  first  paragraphs  of  the 
address : 

"  And  that  this  House  does  most  humbly  ad- 
vise and  supplicate  his  Majesty  to  be  pleased 
to  cause  the  most  speedy  and  effectual  meas- 
ures to  be  taken  for  restoring  peace  in  America ; 
and  that  no  time  may  be  lost  in  proposing  an 
immediate  opening  of  a  treaty  for  the  final 
settlement  of  the  tranquillity  of  these  invalu- 
able provinces,  by  a  removal  of  the  unhappy 
causes  of  this  ruinous  civil  war,  and  by  a  just 
and  adequate  security  against  the  return  of  the 
like  calamities  in  times  to  come.  And  this 
House  desire  to  offer  the  most  dutiful  assur- 
ances to  his  Majesty,  that  they  will,  in  due  time, 
cheerfully  co-operate  with  the  magnanimity  and 
tender  goodness  of  his  Majesty  for  the  preser- 
vation of  his  people,  by  such  explicit  and  most 


138  LORD    CHATHAM. 

solemn  declarations,  and  provisions  of  funda- 
mental and  irrevocable  laws,  as  may  be  judged 
necessary  for  the  ascertaining  and  fixing  forever 
the  respective  rights  of  Great  Britain  and  her 
colonies." 

[In  the  course  of  this  debate,  Lord  Suffolk, 
secretary  for  the  northern  department,  under- 
took to  defend  the  employment  of  the  Indians 
in  the  war.  His  Lordship  contended  that, 
besides  \\.?>  policy  and  necessity,  the  measure  was 
also  allowable  on  principle;  for  that  "it  was 
perfectly  justifiable  to  use  all  the  means  that 
God  and  nature  put  into  our  hands  !  "] 

I  am  astonished  [exclaimed  Lord  Chatham, 
as  he  rose],  shocked !  to  hear  such  principles 
confessed — to  hear  them  avowed  in  this  House, 
or  in  this  country;  principles  equally  unconsti- 
tutional, inhuman,  and  unchristian ! 

My  Lords,  I  did  not  intend  to  have  encroached 
again  upon  your  attention,  but  I  cannot  repress 
my  indignation.  I  feel  myself  impelled  by 
every  duty.  My  Lords,  we  are  called  upon  as 
members  of  this  House,  as  men,  as  Christian 
men,  to  protest  against  such  notions  standing 
near  the  Throne,  polluting  the  ear  of  Majesty. 
"  That  God  and  nature  put  into  our  hands !  "  I 
know  not  what  ideas  that  Lord  may  entertain 


AFFAIRS  IN  AMERICA.  139 

of  God  and  nature,  but  I  know  that  such  abom- 
inable principles  are  equally  abhorrent  to  relig- 
ion and  humanity.  What  !  to  attribute  the  sa- 
cred sanction  of  God  and  nature  to  the  massa- 
cres of  the  Indian  scalping-knife — to  the  canni- 
bal savage,  torturing,  murdering,  roasting,  and 
eating — literally,  my  Lords,  eating  the  mangled 
victims  of  his  barbarous  battles  !  Such  horrible 
notions  shock  every  precept  of  religion,  divine 
or  natural,  and  every  generous  feeling  of  hu- 
manity. And,  my  Lords,  they  shock  every  sen- 
timent of  honor ;  they  shock  me  as  a  lover  of 
honorable  war,  and  a  detester  of  murderous 
barbarity. 

These  abominable  principles,  and  this  more 
abominable  avowal  of  them,  demand  the  most 
decisive  indignation.  I  call  upon  that  right  rev- 
erend bench,  those  holy  ministers  of  the  Gospel, 
and  pious  pastors  of  our  Church — I  conjure 
them  to  join  in  the  holy  work,  and  vindicate  the 
religion  of  their  God.  I  appeal  to  the  wisdom 
and  the  law  of  this  learned  bench,  to  defend 
and  support  the  justice  of  their  country.  I  call 
upon  the  Bishops  to  interpose  the  unsullied 
sanctity  of  their  lawn  ;  upon  the  learned  judges, 
to  interpose  the  purity  of  their  ermine,  to  save 
us  from  this  pollution.  I  call  upon  the  honor 


140  LORD   CHATHAM. 

of  your  Lordships,  to  reverence  the  dignity  of 
your  ancestors,  and  to  maintain  your  own.  I 
call  upon  the  spirit  and  humanity  of  my  country 
to  vindicate  the  national  character.  I  invoke 
the  genius  of  the  Constitution.  From  the 
tapestry  that  adorns  these  walls,  the  immortal 
ancestor  of  this  noble  Lord  frowns  with  indig- 
nation at  the  disgrace  of  his  country.33  In  vain 
he  led  your  victorious  fleets  against  the  boasted 
Armada  of  Spain  ;  in  vain  he  defended  and  es- 
tablished the  honor,  the  liberties,  the  religion — 
the  Protestant  religion — of  this  country,  against 
the  arbitrary  cruelties  of  popery  and  the  Inqui- 
sition, if  these  more  than  popish  cruelties  and 
inquisitorial  practices  are  let  loose  among  us — 
to  turn  forth  into  our  settlements,  among  our 
ancient  connections,  friends,  and  relations,  the 
merciless  cannibal,  thirsting  for  the  blood  of  man, 
woman  and  child,  to  send  forth  the  infidel  savage 
— against  whom  ?  against  your  Protestant  breth- 
ren ;  to  lay  waste  their  country,  to  desolate  their 
dwellings,  and  extirpate  their  race  and  name  with 
these  horrible  hell-hounds  of  savage  war — hell- 
hounds, I  say,  of  savage  war  !  Spain  armed  her- 
self with  blood-hounds  to  extirpate  the  wretched 
natives  of  America,  and  we  improve  on  the  in- 
human example  even  of  Spanish  cruelty ;  we 


AFFAIRS  IN  AMERICA.  141 

turn  loose  these  savage  hell-hounds  against  our 
brethren  and  countrymen  in  America,  of  the 
same  language,  laws,  liberties,  and  religion,  en- 
deared to  us  by  every  tie  that  should  sanctify 
humanity. 

My  Lords,  this  awful  subject,  so  important 
to  our  honor,  our  Constitution,  and  our  religion, 
demands  the  most  solemn  and  effectual  inquiry. 
And  I  again  call  upon  your  Lordships,  and  the 
united  powers  of  the  State,  to  examine  it  thor- 
oughly and  decisively,  and  to  stamp  upon  it  an 
indelible  stigma  of  the  public  abhorrence.  And 
I  again  implore  those  holy  prelates  of  our  re- 
ligion to  do  away  these  iniquities  from  among 
us.  Let  them  perform  a  lustration  ;  let  them 
purify  this  House,  and  this  country,  from  this 
sin. 

My  Lords,  I  am  old  and  weak,  and  at  present 
unable  to  say  more  ;  but  my  feelings  and  in- 
dignation were  too  strong  to  have  said  less.  I 
could  not  have  slept  this  night  in  my  bed,  nor 
reposed  my  head  on  my  pillow,  without  giving 
this  vent  to  my  eternal  abhorrence  of  such  pre- 
posterous and  enormous  principles. 

The  warning  voice  was  heard  in  vain.  Chatham's  urgent 
anxiety  was  not  enough  to  carry  his  amendment.  It  was  lost 
by  a  vote  of  97  to  24.  The  address  triumphed  ;  Parliament 


142  LORD   CHATHAM. 

adjourned  ;  the  members  went  to  their  Christmas  festivities  ; 
the  treaty  with  France  was  framed  and  ratified ;  and  the 
chance  of  recovering  the  colonies  was  lost  forever.  Chatham 
did  not  live  till  the  end  of  the  war,  but  as  soon  as  he  learned 
that  the  treaty  with  France  was  signed,  he  knew  that  the  fatal 
result  was  inevitable. 


LORD  MANSFIELD. 


THE  most  formidable  rival  and  opponent  of 
Lord  Chatham  was  William  Murray,  known  in 
history  as  Lord  Mansfield.  In  point. of  native 
talent  it  would  not  be  easy  to  determine  which 
had  the  advantage ;  but  it  is  generally  conced- 
ed that  Mansfield's  mind  was  the  more  carefully 
trained,  and  that  his  memory  was  the  more  fully 
enriched  with  the  stores  of  knowledge.  He  was 
preeminently  a  lawyer  and  a  lover  of  the  classics ; 
but  Lord  Campbell  speaks  of  his  familiarity 
with  modern  history  as  "  astounding  and  even 
appalling,  for  it  produces  a  painful  conscious- 
ness of  inferiority,  and  creates  remorse  for  time 
misspent."  His  career  is  one  of  the  most  ex- 
traordinary examples  in  English  history  of  an 
unquestioning  acceptance  of  the  stern  condi- 
tions of  the  highest  success. 
i43 


144  LORD  MANSFIELD. 

Mansfield's  education  was  characterized  by  a 
phenominal  devotion  to  some  of  the  severer 
kinds  of  intellectual  drudgery.  Though  he  was 
fourth  son  of  Lord  Stormont  and  brother  of 
Lord  Dunbar,  the  Secretary  of  the  Pretender, 
he  seems  from  the  first  to  have  been  fully  con- 
scious that  he  must  rely  for  distinction  upon 
his  own  efforts  alone.  When  he  was  but  four- 
teen he  had  become  so  familiar  with  the  Latin 
language  that  he  wrote  and  spoke  it  "  with  ac- 
curacy and  ease,"  and  in  after-life  he  declared 
that  there  was  not  one  of  the  orations  of  Cicero 
which  he  had  not,  while  at  Oxford,  written 
into  English,  and  after  an  interval,  according  to 
the  best  of  his  ability,  re-translated  into  Latin. 
Leaving  Oxford  at  the  age  of  twenty-two  he 
was  entered  as  a  student  of  law  at  Lincoln's 
Inn  in  1727.  Lord  Campbell  says  of  him: 
"  When  he  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  1730,  he 
had  made  himself  acquainted  not  only  with  the 
international  law,  but  with  the  codes  of  all  the 
the  most  civilized  nations,  ancient  and  modern  ; 
he  was  an  elegant  classical  scholar;  he  was 


LORD  MANSFIELD.  145 

thoroughly  imbued  with  the  literature  of  his 
own  country ;  he  had  profoundly  studied  our 
mixed  constitution ;  he  had  a  sincere  desire  to 
be  of  service  to  his  country  ;  and  he  was  animat- 
ed by  a  noble  aspiration  after  honorable 
fame." 

The  family  of  Murray  was  one  of  those  Scotch 
families  upon  whom  a  peerage  was  bestowed  by 
James  I.  It  is  not  very  singular  therefore  that 
Lord  Stormont,  the  representative  of  the  fam- 
ily, in  the  eighteenth  century,  should,  like  his 
predecessors,  remain  true  to  the  Stuarts  and 
the  Pretender.  William,  the  fourth  son,  grew  up 
in  the  traditional  political  beliefs  of  his  ances- 
tors. While  Pitt,  therefore,  was  a  Whig,  Mur- 
ray was  a  High  Tory.  In  manner  they  were 
as  different  as  in  politics.  Pitt  was  ardent 
and  imperious,  Murray  was  cool  and  circum- 
spect. Pitt  strove  to  overwhelm,  but  Murray 
strove  to  convince.  Though  Pitt  was  the  great 
master  of  declamatory  invective,  Murray  was 
vastly  his  superior  in  all  the  qualities  that  go  to 
make  up  a  great  debater.  The  immediate  in- 


146  LORD  MANSFIELD. 

fluence  of  Pitt's  speeches  was  far  more  over- 
whelming, but  the  qualities  of  Murray's  ar- 
gument were  more  persuasive  and  more  per- 
manent in  their  influence.  Pitt  entered  the 
House  of  Commons  in  1735  at  twenty-six  ;  Mur- 
ray in  1742  at  thirty-seven.  During  fourteen 
years  therefore,  before  1756  they  were  each  the 
great  exponents  of  the  political  parties  to 
which  they  respectively  belonged.  Murray  en- 
tered the  House  of  Lords  as  Chief  Justice  and 
with  the  title  of  Baron  Mansfield  in  the  same 
year  in  which  Pitt  began  his  great  career  as 
Prime  Minister.  The  power  of  Pitt  was  in  the 
House  of  Commons,  while  that  of  Murray  was 
in  the  House  of  Lords.  Pitt's  influence  was 
over  the  masses,  whose  devotion  was  such  that 
"  they  hugged  his  footmen  and  even  kissed  his 
horses."  Murray's  power  was  over  the  more 
thoughful  few  who  in  the  end  directed  public 
opinion  and  moulded  public  action. 

The  character  of  Murray,  like  that  of  his  great 
rival,  was  not  only  above  reproach,  but  was  re- 
markable for  its  stern  rejection  of  every  thing 


LORD  MANSFIELD.  147 

that  tried  to  turn  him  aside  from  his  great 
purpose.  When  the  Duchess  of  Marlborough 
strove  to  put  him  under  obligations  by  sending 
him  a  retainer  of  a  thousand  guineas,  he  returned 
nine  hundred  and  ninety-five,  with  the  remark 
that  a  retaining  fee  was  never  more  nor  less  than 
five  guineas.  When  Newcastle  offered  him  a 
pension  of  £6,000  a  year,  if  he  would  remain  in 
the  House  of  Commons,  instead  of  taking  the 
Bench,  he  put  the  offer  aside  without  a  mo- 
ment's hesitation,  saying  :  "  What  merit  have 
I,  that  you  should  lay  on  this  country,  for  which 
so  little  is  done  with  spirit,  the  additional  bur- 
den of  £6,000  a  year  ?  "  He  was  Lord  Chief 
Justice  for  nearly  thirty-two  years.  Though  he 
probably  did  more  to  strengthen  the  cause  of 
the  mother  country  against  the  colonies  than 
any  other  one  man,  yet  his  great  services  have 
been  no  less  generously  acknowledged  in  Amer- 
ica than  in  England.  It  was  Mr.  Justice  Story 
who  said :  "  England  and  America,  and  the 
civilized  world,  lie  under  the  deepest  obliga- 
tions to  him.  Wherever  commerce  shall  extend 


148  LORD  MANSFIELD. 

its  social  influences ;  wherever  justice  shall  be 
administered  by  enlightened  and  liberal  rules  ; 
wherever  contracts  shall  be  expounded  upon 
the  eternal  principles  of  right  and  wrong; 
wherever  moral  delicacy  and  judicial  refinement 
shall  be  infused  into  the  municipal  code,  at 
once  to  persuade  men  to  be  honest  and  to  keep 
them  so  ;  wherever  the  intercourse  of  mankind 
shall  aim  at  something  more  elevated  than  that 
grovelling  spirit  of  barter,  in  which  meanness, 
and  avarice,  and  fraud  strive  for  the  mastery 
over  ignorance,  credulity,  and  folly,  the  name 
of  Lord  Mansfield  will  be  held  in  reverence  by 
the  good  and  the  wise,  by  the  honest  merchant, 
the  enlightened  lawyer,  the  just  statesman,  and 
the  conscientious  judge.  The  proudest  monu- 
ment of  his  fame  is  in  the  volumes  of  Burrow, 
and  Cowper,  and  Douglas,  which  we  may 
fondly  hope  will  endure  as  long  as  the  language 
in  which  they  are  written  shall  continue  to  in- 
struct mankind.  His  judgments  should  not  be 
merely  referred  to  and  read  on  the  spur  of  par- 
ticular occasions,  but  should  be  studied  as 


LORD  MANSFIELD.  149 

models  of  juridical  reasoning  and  eloquence." 
When  the  matter  of  repealing  the  Stamp  Act 
came  before  Parliament,  the  question  turned, 
as  we  have  already  observed,  chiefly  on  the 
subject  of  the  clause  declaring  the  right  of  Par- 
liament to  levy  the  tax.  While  Chatham  arrayed 
all  his  powers  against  the  right,  Mansfield  was 
its  most  strenuous  supporter.  His  speech  on 
the  subject  is  of  great  importance  to  the  Amer- 
ican student,  because  it  is  by  far  the  most  able 
and  plausible  ever  delivered  in  support  of  the 
British  policy.  It  is  avowedly  directed  to  the 
question  of  right,  not  at  all  to  the  question  of 
expediency.  Lord  Campbell,  although  inclined 
to  the  doctrines  of  the  Whigs,  refers  to  the 
speech  as  one  of  arguments  to  which  he  "  has 
never  been  able  to  find  an  answer."  The  posi- 
tion of  Mansfield  undoubtedly  had  a  very  great 
influence  in  determining  and  strengthening  the 
policy  of  the  King  and  of  the  ministry.  The 
speech  was  corrected  for  the  press  by  the  ora- 
tor's own  hand,  and  may  be  regarded  as  au- 
thentic. 


LORD  MANSFIELD. 


ON     THE    RIGHT     OF    ENGLAND     TO     TAX     AMERICA. 
HOUSE    OF    LORDS,    FEBRUARY  3,     1766. 

The  discussion,  of  which  the  speech  of  Pitt  already  given, 
formed  a  part,  came  up  on  the  adoption  of  the  motion  declar- 
ing the  right  of  England  to  tax  America, — a  motion  accom- 
panying the  bill  repealing  the  Stamp  Act.  The  motion  was 
strenuously  opposed,  not  only  by  Pitt  in  the  House  of  Com- 
mons, but  also  by  Lord  Camden  in  the  House  of  Lords. 
Camden  said  :  "In  my  opinion,  my  Lords,  the  legislature 
have  no  right  to  make  this  law.  The  sovereign  authority,  the 
omnipotence  of  the  legislature  is  a  favorite  doctrine  ;  but  there 
are  some  things  which  you  cannot  do.  You  cannot  take  away 
a  man's  property,  without  making  him  a  compensation.  You 
have  no  right  to  condemn  a  man  by  bill  of  attainder  without 
hearing  him.  But,  though  Parliament  cannot  take  away  a 
man's  property,  yet  every  subject  must  make  contributions, 
and  this  he  consents  to  do  by  his  representative.  Notwith- 
standing the  King,  Lords,  and  Commons  could  in  ancient 
times  tax  other  people,  they  could  not  tax  the  clergy."  Lord 
Camden  then  went  on  to  show  at  length,  that  the  counties 
palatine  of  Wales  and  of  Berwick,  were  never  taxed  till  they 
were  represented  in  Parliament.  The  same  was  true,  he  said, 
of  Ireland  ;  and  the  same  doctrines  should  prevail  in  regard  to 
America.  It  was  in  answer  to  Lord  Camden  that  the  following 
speech  of  Lord  Mansfield  was  made. 
150 


RIGHT  OF  TAXATION.  !$! 

MY  LORDS: 

I  shall  speak  to  the  question  strictly  as  a 
matter  of  right ;  for  it  is  a  proposition  in  its 
nature  so  perfectly  distinct  from  the  expediency 
of  the  tax,  that  it  must  necessarily  be  taken 
separate,  if  there  is  any  true  logic  in  the  world ; 
but  of  the  expediency  or  inexpediency  I  will 
say  nothing.  It  will  be  time  enough  to  speak 
upon  that  subject  when  it  comes  to  be  a  ques- 
tion. 

I  shall  also  speak  to  the  distinctions  which 
have  been  taken,  without  any  real  difference,  as 
to  the  nature  of  the  tax ;  and  I  shall  point  out, 
lastly,  the  necessity  there  will  be  of  exerting  the 
force  of  the  superior  authority  of  government, 
if  opposed  by  the  subordinate  part  of  it. 

I  am  extremely  sorry  that  the  question  has 
ever  become  necessary  to  be  agitated,  and  that 
there  should  be  a  decision  upon  it.  No  one  in 
this  House  will  live  long  enough  to  see  an  end 
put  to  the  mischief  which  will  be  the  result  of 
the  doctrine  which  has  been  inculcated  ;  but  the 
arrow  is  shot  and  the  wound  already  given.  I 
shall  certainly  avoid  personal  reflections.  No 
one  has  had  more  cast  upon  him  than  myself ; 
but  I  never  was  biased  by  any  consideration  of 
applause  from  without,  in  the  discharge  of  my 


152  LORD  MANSFIELD. 

public  duty  ;  and,  in  giving  my  sentiments  ac- 
cording to  what  I  thought  law,  I  have  relied 
upon  my  own  consciousness.  It  is  with  great 
pleasure  I  have  heard  the  noble  Lord  who  moved 
the  resolution  express  himself  in  so  manly  and 
sensible  a  way,  when  he  recommended  a  dis- 
passionate debate,  while,  at  the  same  time,  he 
urged  the  necessity  of  the  House  coming  to  such 
a  resolution,  with  great  dignity  and  propriety  of 
argument. 

I  shall  endeavor  to  clear  away  from  the  ques- 
tion, all  that  mass  of  dissertation  and  learning 
displayed  in  arguments  which  have  been  fetched 
from  speculative  men  who  have  written  upon  the 
subject  of  government,  or  from  ancient  records, 
as  being  little  to  the  purpose.  I  shall  insist  that 
these  records  are  no  proofs  of  our  present  Con- 
stitution. A  noble  Lord  has  taken  up  his  ar- 
gument from  the  settlement  of  the  Constitution 
at  the  revolution  ;  I  shall  take  up  my  argument 
from  the  Constitution  as  it  now  is.  The  Consti- 
tution of  this  country  has  been  always  in  a  mov- 
ing state,  either  gaining  or  losing  something 
and  with  respect  to  the  modes  of  taxation, 
when  we  get  beyond  the  reign  of  Edward  the 
First,  or  of  King  John,  we  are  all  in  doubt  and 
obscurity.  The  history  of  those  times  is  full 


RIGHT  OF  TAXATION.  153 

of  uncertainties.  In  regard  to  the  writs  upon 
record,  they  were  issued  some  of  them  accord- 
ing to  law,  and  some  not  according  to  law  ;  and 
such  [i.  e.,  of  the  latter  kind]  were  those  con- 
cerning ship-money,  to  call  assemblies  to  tax 
themselves,  or  to  compel  benevolences.  Other 
taxes  were  raised  from  escuage,  fees  for  knights' 
service,  and  by  other  means  arising  out  of  the 
feudal  system.  Benevolences  are  contrary  to 
law ;  and  it  is  well  known  how  people  resisted 
the  demands  of  the  Crown  in  the  case  of  ship- 
money,  and  were  persecuted  by  the  Court ;  and 
if  any  set  of  men  were  to  meet  now  to  lend  the 
King  money,  it  would  be  contrary  to  law,  and 
a  breach  of  the  rights  of  Parliament. 

I  shall  now  answer  the  noble  Lord  particu- 
larly upon  the  cases  he  has  quoted.  With  re- 
spect to  the  Marches  of  Wales,  who  were  the 
borderers,  privileged  for  assisting  the  King  in 
his  war  against  the  Welsh  in  the  mountains, 
their  enjoying  this  privilege  of  taxing  them- 
selves was  but  of  a  short  duration,  and  during 
the  life  of  Edward  the  First,  till  the  Prince  of 
Wales  came  to  be  the  King;  and  then  they 
were  annexed  to  the  Crown,  and  became  sub- 
ject to  taxes  like  the  rest  of  the  dominions  of 
England ;  and  from  thence  came  the  custom, 


154  LORD  MANSFIELD. 

though  unnecessary,  of  naming  Wales  and  the 
town  of  Monmouth  in  all  proclamations  and  in 
acts  of  Parliament.  Henry  the  Eighth  was  the 
first  who  issued  writs  for  it  to  return  two  mem- 
bers to  Parliament.  The  Crown  exercised  this 
right  ad  libitum,  from  whence  arises  the  ine- 
quality of  representation  in  our  Constitution  at 
this  day.  Henry  VIII.  issued  a  writ  to  Calais 
to  send  one  burgess  to  Parliament.  One  of  the 
counties  palatine  [I  think  he  said  Durham]  was 
taxed  fifty  years  to  subsidies,  before  it  sent 
members  to  Parliament.  The  clergy  were  at 
no  time  unrepresented  in  Partaiment.  When 
they  taxed  themselves,  it  was  done  with  the 
concurrence  and  consent  of  Parliament,  who 
permitted  them  to  tax  themselves  upon  their 
petition,  the  Convocation  sitting  at  the  same 
time  with  the  Parliament.  They  had,  too,  their 
representatives  always  sitting  in  this  House, 
bishops  and  abbots ;  and,  in  the  other  House, 
they  were  at  no  time  without  a  right  of  voting 
singly  for  the  election  of  members ;  so  that  the 
argument  fetched  from  the  case  of  the  clergy 
is  not  an  argument  of  any  force,  because  they 
were  at  no  time  unrepresented  here. 

The  reasoning  about  the  colonies  of  Great 
Britain,  drawn  from  the  colonies  of  antiquity, 


RIGHT  OF   TAXATION.  155 

is  a  mere  useless  display  of  learning ;  for  the 
colonies  of  the  Tyrians  in  Africa,  and  of  the 
Greeks  in  Asia,  were  totally  different  from  our 
system.  No  nation  before  ourselves  formed 
any  regular  system  of  colonization,  but  the 
Romans ;  and  their  system  was  a  military  one, 
and  of  garrisons  placed  in  the  principal  towns 
of  the  conquered  provinces.  The  States  of 
Holland  were  not  colonies  of  Spain  ;  they  were 
States  dependent  upon  the  house  of  Austria  in 
a  feudal  dependence.  Nothing  could  be  more 
different  from  our  colonies  than  that  flock  of 
men,  as  they  have  been  called,  who  came  from 
the  North  and  poured  into  Europe.  Those 
emigrants  renounced  all  laws,  all  protection, 
all  connection  with  their  mother  countries. 
They  chose  their  leaders,  and  marched  under 
their  banners  to  seek  their  fortunes  and  estab- 
lish new  kingdoms  upon  the  ruins  of  the 
Roman  empire. 

But  our  colonies,  on  the  contrary,  emigrated 
under  the  sanction  of  the  Crown  and  Parlia- 
ment. They  were  modelled  gradually  into  their 
present  forms,  respectively,  by  charters,  grants, 
and  statutes ;  but  they  were  never  separated 
from  the  mother  country,  or  so  emancipated  as 
to  become  sui  juris.  There  are  several  sorts  of 


156  LORD  MANSFIELD. 

colonies  in  British  America.  The  charter  colo- 
nies, the  proprietary  governments,  and  the 
King's  colonies.  The  first  colonies  were  the 
charter  colonies,  such  as  the  Virginia  Com- 
pany; and  these  companies  had  among  their 
directors  members  of  the  privy  council  and  of 
both  houses  of  Parliament  ;  they  were  under 
the  authority  of  the  privy  council,  and  had 
agents  resident  here,  responsible  for  their  pro- 
ceedings. So  much  were  they  considered  as 
belonging  to  the  Crown,  and  not  to  the  King 
personally  (for  there  is  a  great  difference, 
though  few  people  attend  to  it),  that  when  the 
two  Houses,  in  the  time  of  Charles  the  First, 
were  going  to  pass  a  bill  concerning  the  colo- 
nies, a  message  was  sent  to  them  by  the  King 
that  they  were  the  King's  colonies,  and  that 
the  bill  was  unnecessary,  for  that  the  privy 
council  would  take  order  about  them  ;  and  the 
bill  never  had  the  royal  assent.  The  Common- 
wealth Parliament,  as  soon  as  it  was  settled, 
were  very  early  jealous  of  the  colonies  sepa- 
rating themselves  from  them ;  and  passed  a 
resolution  or  act  (and  it  is  a  question  whether 
it  is  not  in  force  now)  to  declare  and  establish 
the  authority  of  England  over  its  colonies. 
But  if  there  was  no  express  law,  or  reason 


RIGHT  OF   TAXATION.  157 

founded  upon  any  necessary  inference  from  an 
express  law,  yet  the  usage  alone  would  be  suffi- 
cient to  support  that  authority;  for,  have  not 
the  colonies  submitted  ever  since  their  first  es- 
tablishment to  the  jurisdiction  of  the  mother 
country  ?  In  all  questions  of  property,  the 
appeals  from  the  colonies  have  been  to  the 
privy  council  here ;  and  such  causes  have  been 
determined,  not  by  the  law  of  the  colonies,  but 
by  the  law  of  England.  A  very  little  while 
ago,  there  was  an  appeal  on  a  question  of 
limitation  in  a  devise  of  land  with  remainders  ; 
and,  notwithstanding  the  intention  of  the  testa- 
tor appeared  very  clear,  yet  the  case  was  deter- 
mined contrary  to  it,  and  that  the  land  should 
pass  according  to  the  law  of  England.  The 
colonies  have  been  obliged  to  recur  very  fre- 
quently to  the  jurisdiction  here,  to  settle  the 
disputes  among  their  own  governments.  I  well 
remember  several  references  on  this  head,  when 
the  late  Lord  Hardwicke  was  attorney  general, 
and  Sir  Clement  Wearg  solicitor  general.  New 
Hampshire  and  Connecticut  were  in  blood 
about  their  differences  ;  Virginia  and  Maryland 
were  in  arms  against  each  other.  This  shows 
the  necessity  of  one  superior  decisive  jurisdic- 
tion, to  which  all  subordinate  jurisdictions  may 


158  LORD  MANSFIELD. 

recur.  Nothing,  my  Lords,  could  be  more  fatal 
to  the  peace  of  the  colonies  at  any  time,  than 
the  Parliament  giving  up  its  authority  over 
them  ;  for  in  such  a  case,  there  must  be  an 
entire  dissolution  of  government.  Considering 
how  the  colonies  are  composed,  it  is  easy  to 
foresee  there  would  be  no  end  of  feuds  and 
factions  among  the  several  separate  govern- 
ments, when  once  there  shall  be  no  one  govern- 
ment here  or  there  of  sufficient  force  or  authori- 
ty to  decide  their  mutual  differences;  and, 
government  being  dissolved,  nothing  remains 
but  that  the  colonies  must  either  change  their 
Constitution,  and  take  some  new  form  of  gov- 
ernment, or  fall  under  some  foreign  power. 
At  present  the  several  forms  of  their  Constitu- 
tion are  very  various,  having  been  produced,  as 
all  governments  have  been  originally,  by  acci- 
dent and  circumstances.  The  forms  of  govern- 
ment in  every  colony  were  adopted,  from  time 
to  time,  according  to  the  size  of  the  colony ; 
and  so  have  been  extended  again,  from  time  to 
time,  as  the  numbers  of  their  inhabitants  and 
their  commercial  connections  outgrew  the  first 
model.  In  some  colonies,  at  first  there  was 
only  a  governor  assisted  by  two  or  three  coun- 
sel ;  then  more  were  added  ;  afterward  courts 


RIGHT  OF   TAXATION.  159 

of  justice  were  erected ;  then  assemblies  were 
created.  Some  things  were  done  by  instruc- 
tions from  the  secretaries  of  state  ;  other  things 
were  done  by  order  of  the  King  and  council ; 
and  other  things  by  commissions  under  the 
great  seal.  It  is  observable,  that  inconsequence 
of  these  establishments  from  time  to  time,  and 
of  the  dependency  of  these  governments  upon 
the  supreme  Legislature  at  home,  the  lenity  of 
each  government  in  the  colonies  has  been  ex- 
treme toward  the  subject ;  and  a  great  induce- 
ment has  been  created  for  people  to  come  and 
settle  in  them.  But,  if  all  those  governments 
which  are  now  independent  of  each  other, 
should  become  independent  of  the  mother  coun- 
try, I  am  afraid  that  the  inhabitants  of  the 
colonies  are  very  little  aware  of  the  conse- 
quences. They  would  feel  in  that  case  very 
soon  the  hand  of  power  more  heavy  upon  them 
in  their  own  governments,  than  they  have  yet 
done,  or  have  ever  imagined. 

The  Constitutions  of  the  different  colonies 
are  thus  made  up  of  different  principles.  They 
must  remain  dependent,  from  the  necessity  of 
things,  and  their  relations  to  the  jurisdiction  of 
the  mother  country;  or  they  must  be  totally 
dismembered  from  it,  and  form  a  league  of 


l6o  LORD  MANSFIELD. 

union  among  themselves  against  it,  which  could 
not  be  effected  without  great  violences.  No 
one  ever  thought  the  contrary  till  the  trumpet 
of  sedition  was  blown.  Acts  of  Parliament 
have  been  made,  not  only  without  a  doubt  of 
their  legality,  but  with  universal  applause,  the 
great  object  of  which  has  been  ultimately  to  fix 
the  trade  of  the  colonies,  so  as  to  centre  in  the 
bosom  of  that  country  from  whence  they  took 
their  original.  The  Navigation  Act  shut  up 
their  intercourse  with  foreign  countries.34  Their 
ports  have  been  made  subject  to  customs  and 
regulations  which  have  cramped  and  diminished 
their  trade.  And  duties  have  been  laid,  affect- 
ing the  very  inmost  parts  of  their  commerce, 
and,  among  others,  that  of  the  post ;  yet  all 
these  have  been  submitted  to  peaceably,  and 
no  one  ever  thought  till  now  of  this  doctrine, 
that  the  colonies  are  not  to  be  taxed,  regu- 
lated, or  bound  by  Parliament.  A  few  particu- 
lar merchants  were  then,  as  now,  displeased 
at  restrictions  which  did  not  permit  them 
to  make  the  greatest  possible  advantages  of 
their  commerce  in  their  own  private  and  pecu- 
liar branches.  But,  though  these  few  merchants 
might  think  themselves  losers  in  articles  which 
they  had  no  right  to  gain,  as  being  prejudicial 


RIGHT  OF   TAXATION.  l6l 

to  the  general  and  national  system,  yet  I  must 
observe  that  the  colonies,  upon  the  whole, 
were  benefited  by  these  laws.  For  these 
restrictive  laws,  founded  upon  principles  of 
the  most  solid  policy,  flung  a  great  weight  of 
naval  force  into  the  hands  of  the  mother  coun- 
try, which  was  to  protect  its  colonies.  With- 
out a  union  with  her,  the  colonies  must  have 
been  entirely  weak  and  defenceless,  but  they 
thus  became  relatively  great,  subordinately, 
and  in  proportion  as  the  mother  country  ad- 
vanced in  superiority  over  the  rest  of  the  mari- 
time powers  in  Europe,  to  which  both  mutually 
contributed,  and  of  which  both  have  reaped 
a  benefit,  equal  to  the  natural  and  just  relation 
in  which  they  both  stand  reciprocally,  of 
dependency  on  one  side,  and  protection  on  the 
other. 

There  can  be  no  doubt,  my  Lords,  but  that 
the  inhabitants  of  the  colonies  are  as  much 
represented  in  Parliament,  as  the  greatest  part 
of  the  people  of  England  are  represented ; 
among  nine  millions  of  whom  there  are  eight 
which  have  no  votes  in  electing  members  of 
Parliament.  Every  objection,  therefore,  to 
the  dependency  of  the  colonies  upon  Parlia- 
ment, which  arises  to  it  upon  the  ground  of 


1 62  LORD  MANSFIELD. 

representation,  goes  to  the  whole  present  Con- 
stitution of  Great  Britain ;  and  I  suppose  it 
is  not  meant  to  new-model  that  too.  People 
may  form  speculative  ideas  of  perfection,  and 
indulge  their  own  fancies  or  those  of  other 
men.  Every  man  in  this  country  has  his 
particular  notion  of  liberty ;  but  perfection 
never  did,  and  never  can  exist  in  any  human 
institution.  To  what  purpose,  then,  are  argu- 
ments drawn  from  a  distinction,  in  which  there 
is  no  real  difference — of  a  virtual  and  actual 
representation  ?  A  member  of  Parliament, 
chosen  for  any  borough,  represents  not  only 
the  constituents  and  inhabitants  of  that  particu- 
lar place,  but  he  represents  the  inhabitants 
of  every  other  borough  in  Great  Britain.  He 
represents  the  city  of  London,  and  all  the 
other  commons  of  this  land,  and  the  inhabitants 
of  all  the  colonies  and  dominions  of  Great 
Britain ;  and  is,  in  duty  and  conscience,  bound 
to  take  care  of  their  interests. 

I  have  mentioned  the  customs  and  the  post 
tax.  This  leads  me  to  answer  another  distinc- 
tion, as  false  as  the  above ;  the  distinction  of 
internal  and  external  taxes.  The  noble  Lord 
who  quoted  so  much  law,  and  denied  upon 
those  grounds  the  right  of  the  Parliament  of 


RIGHT  OF   TAXATION.  163 

Great  Britain  to  lay  internal  taxes  upon  the 
colonies,  allowed  at  the  same  time  that  restric- 
tions upon  trade,  and  duties  upon  the  ports, 
were  legal.  But  I  cannot  see  a  real  difference 
in  this  distinction  ;  for  I  hold  it  to  be  true,  that 
a  tax  laid  in  any  place  is  like  a  pebble  falling 
into  and  making  a  circle  in  a  lake,  till  one  cir- 
cle produces  and  gives  motion  to  another,  and 
the  whole  circumference  is  agitated  from  the 
centre.  For  nothing  can  be  more  clear  than 
that  a  tax  of  ten  or  twenty  per  cent:  laid  upon 
tobacco,  either  in  the  ports  of  Virginia  or  Lon- 
don, is  a  duty  laid  upon  the  inland  plantations 
of  Virginia,  a  hundred  miles  from  the  sea, 
wheresoever  the  tobacco  grows. 

I  do  not  deny  but  that  a  tax  may  be  laid  in- 
judiciously and  injuriously,  and  that  people  in 
such  a  case  may  have  a  right  to  complain.  But 
the  nature  of  the  tax  is  not  now  the  question  ; 
whenever  it  comes  to  be  one,  I  am  for  lenity. 
I  would  have  no  blood  drawn.  There  is,  I  am 
satisfied,  no  occasion  for  any  to  be  drawn.  A 
little  time  and  experience  of  the  inconveniences 
and  miseries  of  anarchy,  may  bring  people  to 
their  senses. 

With  respect  to  what  has  been  said  or  written 
upon  this  subject,  I  differ  from  the  noble  Lord, 


164  LORD  MANSFIELD. 

who  spoke  of  Mr.  Otis  and  his  book  with  con- 
tempt, though  he  maintained  the  same  doctrine 
in  some  points,  while  in  others  he  carried  it 
farther  than  Otis  himself,  who  allows  every- 
where the  supremacy  of  the  Crown  over  the 
colonies.35  No  man,  on  such  a  subject,  is  con- 
temptible. Otis  is  a  man  of  consequence 
among  the  people  there.  They  have  chosen 
him  for  one  of  their  deputies  at  the  Congress 
and  general  meeting  from  the  respective  gov- 
ernments. It  was  said,  the  man  is  mad.  What 
then  ?  One  madman  often  makes  many. 
Masaniello  was  mad.  Nobody  doubts  it ;  yet, 
for  all  that,  he  overturned  the  government  of 
Naples.  Madness  is  catching  in  all  popular 
assemblies  and  upon  all  popular  matters.  The 
book  is  full  of  wildness.  I  never  read  it  till  a 
few  days  ago,  for  I  seldom  look  into  such 
things.  I  never  was  actually  acquainted  with 
the  contents  of  the  Stamp  Act,  till  I  sent  for  it 
on  purpose  to  read  it  before  the  debate  was 
expected.  With  respect  to  authorities  in 
another  House,  I  know  nothing  of  them.  I  be- 
lieve that  I  have  not  been  in  that  House  more 
than  once  since  I  had  the  honor  to  be  called  up 
to  this ;  and,  if  I  did  know  any  thing  that 
passed  in  the  other  House,  I  could  not,  and 


RIGHT  OF  TAXATION.  165 

would  not,  mention  it  as  an  authority  here.  I 
ought  not  to  mention  any  such  authority.  I 
should  think  it  beneath  my  own  and  your  Lord- 
ship's dignity  to  speak  of  it. 

I  am  far  from  bearing  any  ill  will  to  the 
Americans  ;  they  are  a  very  good  people,  and  I 
have  long  known  them.  I  began  life  with  them, 
and  owe  much  to  them,  having  been  much  con- 
cerned in  the  plantation  causes  before  the  privy 
council ;  and  so  I  became  a  good  deal  ac- 
quainted with  American  affairs  and  people.  I 
dare  say,  their  heat  will  soon  be  over,  when 
they  come  to  feel  a  little  the  consequences  of 
their  opposition  to  the  Legislature.  Anarchy 
always  cures  itself ;  but  the  ferment  will  con- 
tinue so  much  the  longer,  while  hot-headed 
men  there  find  that  there  are  persons  of  weight 
and  character  to  support  and  justify  them  here. 

Indeed,  if  the  disturbances  should  continue 
for  a  great  length  of  time,  force  must  be  the 
consequence,  an  application  adequate  to  the 
mischief,  and  arising  out  of  the  necessity  of  the 
case ;  for  force  is  only  the  difference  between  a 
superior  and  subordinate  jurisdiction.  In  the 
former,  the  whole  force  of  the  Legislature  re- 
sides collectively,  and  when  it  ceases  to  reside, 
the  whole  connection  is  dissolved.  It  will,  in- 


1 66  LORD  MANSFIELD. 

deed,  be  to  very  little  purpose  that  we  sit  here 
enacting  laws,  and  making  resolutions,  if  the 
inferior  will  not  obey  them,  or  if  we  neither  can 
nor  dare  enforce  them ;  for  then,  and  then,  I 
say,  of  necessity,  the  matter  comes  to  the 
sword.  If  the  offspring  are  grown  too  big  and 
too  resolute  to  obey  the  parent,  you  must  try 
which  is  the  strongest,  and  exert  all  the  powers 
of  the  mother  country  to  decide  the  contest. 

I  am  satisfied,  notwithstanding,  that  time  and 
a  wise  and  steady  conduct  may  prevent  those 
extremities  which  would  be  fatal  to  both.  I 
remember  well  when  it  was  the  violent  humor 
of  the  times  to  decry  standing  armies  and  gar- 
risons as  dangerous,  and  incompatible  with  the 
liberty  of  the  subject.  Nothing  would  do  but 
a  regular  militia.  The  militia  are  embodied  ; 
they  march  ;  and  no  sooner  was  the  militia  law 
thus  put  into  execution,  but  it  was  then  said  to 
be  an  intolerable  burden  upon  the  subject,  and 
that  it  would  fall,  sooner  or  later,  into  the 
hands  of  the  Crown.  That  was  the  language, 
and  many  counties  petitioned  against  it.  This 
may  be  the  case  with  the  colonies.  In  many 
places  they  begin  already  to  feel  the  effects  of 
their  resistence  to  government.  Interest  very 
soon  divides  mercantile  people ;  and,  although 


RIGHT  OF   TAXATION.  167 

there  may  be  some  mad,  enthusiastic,  or  ill- 
designing  people  in  the  colonies,  yet  I  am  con- 
"vinced  that  the  greatest  bulk,  who  have  under- 
standing and  property,  are  still  well  affected  to 
the  mother  country.  You  have,  my  Lords, 
many  friends  still  in  the  colonies  ;  and  take  care 
that  you  do  not,  by  abdicating  your  own  au- 
thority, desert  them  and  yourselves,  and  lose 
them  forever. 

In  all  popular  tumults,  the  worst  men  bear 
the  sway  at  first.  Moderate  and  good  men  are 
often  silent  for  fear  or  modesty,  who,  in  good 
time,  may  declare  themselves.  Those  who  have 
any  property  to  lose  are  sufficiently  alarmed  al- 
ready at  the  progress  of  these  public  violences 
and  violations,  to  which  every  man's  dwelling, 
person,  and  property  are  hourly  exposed.  Num- 
bers of  such  valuable  men  and  good  subjects 
are  ready  and  willing  to  declare  themselves  for 
the  support  of  government  in  due  time,  if 
government  does  not  fling  away  its  own  au- 
thority. 

My  Lords,  the  Parliament  of  Great  Britain 
has  its  rights  over  the  colonies  ;  but  it  may  ab- 
dicate its  rights. 

There  was  a  thing  which  I  forgot  to  mention. 
I  mean,  the  manuscript  quoted  by  the  noble 


1 68  LORD  MANSFIELD. 

Lord.  He  tells  you  that  it  is  there  said,  that  if 
the  act  concerning  Ireland  had  passed,  the  Par- 
liament might  have  abdicated  its  rights  as  to 
Ireland.  In  the  first  place,  I  heartily  wish,  my 
Lords,  that  Ireland  had  not  been  named,  at  a 
time  when  that  country  is  of  a  temper  and  in  a 
situation  so  difficult  to  be  governed  ;  and  when 
we  have  already  here  so  much  weight  upon  our 
hands,  encumbered  with  the  extensiveness,  va- 
riety, and  importance  of  so  many  objects  in  a 
vast  and  too  busy  empire,  and  the  national  sys- 
tem shattered  and  exhausted  by  a  long,  bloody, 
and  expensive  war,  but  more  so  by  our  divisions 
at  home,  and  a  fluctuation  of  counsels.  I  wish 
Ireland,  therefore,  had  never  been  named. 

I  pay  as  much  respect  as  any  man  to  the 
memory  of  Lord  Chief  Justice  Hale  ;  but  I  did 
not  know  that  he  had  ever  written  upon  the 
subject ;  and  I  differ  very  much  from  thinking 
with  the  noble  Lord,  that  this  manuscript  ought 
to  be  published.  So  far  am  I  from  it,  that  I 
wish  the  manuscript  had  never  been  named  ; 
for  Ireland  is  too  tender  a  subject  to  be  touched. 
The  case  of  Ireland  is  as  different  as  possible 
from  that  of  our  colonies.  Ireland  was  a  con- 
quered country  ;  it  had  its  pacta  conventa  and 
its  regalia.  But  to  what  purpose  is  it  to  mention 


RIGHT  OF   TAXATION.  169 

the  manuscript?  It  is  but  the  opinion  of  one 
man.  When  it  was  written,  or  for  what  par- 
ticular object  it  was  written,  does  not  appear. 
It  might  possibly  be  only  a  work  of  youth,  or 
an  exercise  of  the  understanding,  in  sounding 
and  trying  a  question  problematically.  All  peo- 
ple, when  they  first  enter  professions,  make  their 
collections  pretty  early  in  life ;  and  the  manu- 
script may  be  of  that  sort.  However,  be  it 
what  it  may,  the  opinion  is  but  problematical ; 
for  the  act  to  which  the  writer  refers  never 
passed,  and  Lord  Hale  only  said,  that  if  it  had 
passed,  the  Parliament  might  have  abdicated 
their  right. 

But,  my  Lords,  I  shall  make  this  application 
of  it.  You  may  abdicate  your  right  over  the 
colonies.  Take  care,  my  Lords,  how  you  do 
so,  for  such  an  act  will  be  irrevocable.  Pro- 
ceed, then,  my  Lords,  with  spirit  and  firmness ; 
and,  when  you  shall  have  established  your  au- 
thority, it  will  then  be  a  time  to  show  your 
lenity.  The  Americans,  as  I  said  before,  are  a 
very  good  people,  and  I  wish  them  exceedingly 
well ;  but  they  are  heated  and  inflamed.  The 
noble  Lord  who  spoke  before  ended  with  a 
prayer.  I  cannot  end  better  than  by  saying 
to  it  Amen ;  and  in  the  words  of  Maurice,  Prince 


I/O  LORD  MANSFIELD. 

of  Orange,  concerning  the  Hollanders  :  "  God 
bless  this  industrious,  frugal,  and  well-meaning, 
but  easily-deluded  people. ' ' 

The  Stamp  Act  was  repealed,  and  the  Declaratory  Act,  thus 
advocated  by  Lord  Mansfield,  was  also  passed  by  a  large 
majority. 

The  positions  taken  by  Lord  Mansfield  were  answered  in  a 
variety  of  ways  by  the  colonists.  What  may  be  called  the 
American  Case,  was  carefully  stated  in  a  "  Declaration  of 
Rights  and  Grievances,"  passed  by  the  New  York  Congress, 
October  19,  1765.  The  substance  of  the  American  claims  may 
be  summarized  in  the  following  propositions  : 

1.  They  owed  their  existence  not  to  Parliament,  but  to  the 
Crown.     The  King,  in  the  exercise  of  the  high  sovereignty 
then  conceded  to  him,  had  made  them  by  charter  complete 
civil  communities,  with  legislatures  of  their  own  having  power 
to  lay  taxes  and  do  all  other  acts  which  were  necessary  to  their 
subsistence  as  distinct  governments.     Hence, 

2.  They  stood  substantially  on  the  same  footing  as  Scot- 
land previous  to  the  Union.     Like  her  they  were  subject  to 
the  Navigation  Act,  and  similar  regulations  touching  the  ex- 
ternal relations  of  the  empire  ;  and  like  her  the  ordinary  legis- 
lation of  England  did  not  reach  them,  nor  did  the  common  law 
any  farther  than  they  chose  to  adopt  it.     Hence, 

3.  They  held  themselves  amenable  in  their  internal  con- 
cerns, not  to  Parliament,  but  to  the  Crown  alone.     It  was  to 
the  King  in  council  or  to  his  courts  that  they  made  those  oc- 
casional  references   and  appeals,  which  Lord  Mansfield  en- 
deavors to  draw  into  precedents.     So  "  the  post  tax  "  spoken 
of  above,  did  not  originate  in  Parliament,   but  in  a  charter  to 
an  individual  which  afterward  reverted  to  the  Crown,  and  it 
was  in  this  way  alone  that  the  post-office  in  America  became 


RIGHT  OF   TAXATION.  \J\ 

connected  with  that  of  England.  Even  the  American  Declara- 
tion of  Independence  does  not  once  refer  to  the  British  Par- 
liament. The  colonists  held  that  they  owed  allegiance  to  the 
King  only,  and  hence  it  was  the  King's  conduct  alone  that  was 
regarded  as  a  just  reason  for  their  renouncing  their  allegiance. 
One  of  their  grievances  was,  that  he  confederated  with  others 
in  "  pretended  acts  of  legislation." 

The  Colonists  supported  their  argument  by  an  appeal  to 
"long-continued  usage."  Burke  acknowledged  the  force  of 
this  position,  though  he  drew  from  it  the  conclusion  merely 
that,  "  to  introduce  a  change  now,  is  both  inexpedient  and  un- 
wise." The  Colonists,  on  the  contrary,  held  :  "  You  have  no 
right  to  lay  the  taxes."  The  attitude  of  the  colonies  is  best 
studied  in  the  volume  of  "  Prior  Documents  to  Almon's  Re- 
membrancer," where  all  the  important  papers  and  the  resolu- 
tions of  the  several  colonies  are  given.  See,  also,  Pilkin's  "  Po- 
litical History,"  Marshall's  "American  Colonies,"  and  vol.  i. 
of  Story,  "  On  the  Constitution."  There  is  an  excellent  sum- 
mary of  the  debate  in  the  English  Parliament,  probably  writ- 
ten by  Burke,  in  the  Annual  Register,  vol.  ix.,  pp.  35-48  ; 
and  a  still  fuller  one  embracing  the  examination  of  Franklin, 
in  Hansard's  "Parliamentary  History,"  vol.  xvi.,  pp.  90- 
200. 


EDMUND  BURKE. 


THERE  is  much  in  the  oratory  of  Edmund 
Burke  to  suggest  the  amplitude  of  mind  and 
the  power  and  scope  of  intellectual  grasp  that 
characterized  Shakespeare.  He  surveyed  every 
subject  as  if  standing  on  an  eminence  and  tak- 
ing a  view  of  it  in  all  its  relations,  however 
complex  and  remote.  United  with  this  re- 
markable comprehensiveness  was  also  a  subtlety 
of  intellect  that  enabled  him  to  penetrate  the 
most  complicated  relations  and  unravel  the 
most  perplexed  intricacies.  Why  ?  Whence  ? 
For  what  end  ?  With  what  results  ?  were  the 
questions  that  his  mind  seemed  always  to  be 
striving  to  answer.  The  special  objects  to 
which  he  applied  himself  were  the  workings  of 
political  institutions,  the  principles  of  wise 
legislation,  and  the  sources  of  national  security 
172 


EDMUND  BURKE.  173 

and  advancement.  Rerum  cognoscere  causas, — 
to  know  the  causes  of  things — in  all  the  multi- 
form relations  of  organized  society,  was  the 
constant  end  of  his  striving.  More  than  any 
other  one  that  has  written  in  English  he  was  a 
political  philosopher.  But  he  was  far  more 
than  that.  He  had  a  memory  of  extraordinary 
grasp  and  tenacity ;  and  this,  united  with  a 
tireless  industry,  gave  him  an  affluence  of 
knowledge  that  has  rarely  been  equalled.  He 
had  the  fancy  of  a  poet,  and  his  imagination 
surveyed  the  whole  range  of  human  experience 
for  illustrations  with  which  to  enrich  the  train 
of  his  thought. 

For  the  purposes  of  legislative  persuasion 
many  of  Burke's  qualities  were  a  hindrance 
rather  than  a  help.  His  course  of  reasoning 
was  often  too  elaborate  to  be  carried  in  the 
mind  of  the  hearer.  His  exuberant  fancy  con- 
stantly tempted  him  into  illustrative  excursions 
that  led  the  hearer  too  far  away  from  the 
march  of  the  argument.  The  one  thing  which 
he  always  found  it  difficult  to  do  was  to  restrain 


174  EDMUND  BURKE. 

the  exuberance  of  his  genius.  He  could  not 
be  straightforward  and  unadorned.  He  car- 
ried his  wealth  with  him  and  displayed  it  on 
all  occasions.  Mr.  Matthew  Arnold  has  very 
happily  characterized  this  feature  of  his  mind 
as  "  Asiatic."  "  He  is  the  only  man,"  said 
Johnson,  "whose  common  conversation  corres- 
ponds with  the  general  fame  which  he  has 
in  the  world.  No  man  of  sense  could  meet 
Burke  by  accident  under  a  gateway  to  avoid  a 
shower  without  being  convinced  that  he  was 
the  first  man  in  England." 

It  is  not  singular  that  these  characteristics 
were  often  thought  to  be  oppressive.  In  the 
House  of  Commons  he  sometimes  poured  forth 
the  wealth  of  his  knowledge  for  hour  after  hour 
till  the  members  were  burdened  and  driven  out 
of  the  House  in  sheer  self-defence.  This  pecu- 
liarity was  well  described  by  the  satirist  who 

said: 

"He  went  on  refining, 
And  thought  of  convincing  when  they  thought  of  dining." 

Erskine,    during   the    delivery   of    the   speech 


EDMUND  BURKE.  1/5 

on  "  Conciliation  with  America,"  crept  out 
of  the  House  behind  the  benches  on  his  hands 
and  knees,  and  yet  afterward  wrote  that  he 
thought  the  speech  the  most  remarkable  one  of 
ancient  or  modern  times. 

But  this  vast  superabundance,  this  superfluity 
of  riches,  so  oppressive  to  the  ear  of  the  hearer, 
must  ever  be  a  source  of  pleasure  and  profit  to 
the  thoughtful  reader.  It  is  safe  to  say  that  there 
is  no  other  oratory  of  any  language  or  time 
that  yields  so  rich  a  return  to  the  thoughtful 
efforts  of  the  genuine  student.  What  Fox  said 
to  members  of  Parliament  in  regard  to  the 
speech  on  the  "  Nabob  of  Arcot's  debts,"  may  be 
appropriately  said  with  perhaps  even  greater 
emphasis  to  American  students  in  regard  to 
either  of  the  speeches  on  American  affairs : 
"  Let  gentlemen  read  this  speech  by  day  and 
meditate  on  it  by  night :  let  them  peruse  it 
again  and  again,  study  it,  imprint  it  on  their 
minds,  impress  it  on  their  hearts."  After  all 
that  has  been  written,  the  student  can  nowhere 
find  a  more  correct  and  comprehensive  account 


1/6  EDMUND  BURKE. 

of  the  causes  of  the  American  Revolution  than 
in  the  speeches  on  Taxation  and  Conciliation. 

Burke's  education  had  given  him  peculiar 
qualifications  for  discussing  American  affairs. 
These  qualifications  were  both  general  and 
special.  At  the  age  of  fourteen  he  entered 
Trinity  College  in  his  native  city  of  Dublin, 
where  he  remained  six  years,  performing  not 
only  his  regular  college  duties,  but  carrying  on 
a  very  elaborate  course  of  study  of  his  own  de- 
vising. He  not  only  read  a  greater  part  of  the 
poets  and  orators  of  antiquity,  but  he  also  de- 
voted himself  to  philosophy  in  such  a  way  that 
his  mind  took  that  peculiar  bent  which  made 
him  ultimately  what  has  been  called  "  the 
philosophical  orator  "  of  the  language.  In  1750, 
when  he  was  twenty,  he  began  the  study  of 
law  at  the  Middle  Temple,  in  London.  But 
his  law  studies  were  not  congenial  to  him  ;  and 
his  great  energies,  therefore,  were  chiefly  de- 
voted to  the  study  of  what  would  now  be 
called  Political  Science.  It  was  at  this  period 
that  he  acquired  that  habit  which  never  deserted 


EDMUND  BURKE.  1 77 

him  of  following  out  trains  of  thought  to  their 
end,  and  framing  his  views  on  every  subject  he 
investigated  into  an  organized  system.  He 
was  a  very  careful  student  of  Bolingbroke's 
works  ;  and  such  an  impression  had  this  writer's 
methods  of  reasoning  made  upon  him,  that 
when  his  first  pamphlet,  "  The  Vindication  of 
Natural  Society  "  appeared  in  1756,  it  was 
thought  by  many  to  be  a  posthumous  work  of 
Bolingbroke  himself.  In  the  same  year  he 
astonished  the  reading  world  by  publishing  at 
the  age  of  twenty-six,  his  celebrated  philosoph- 
ical treatise  on  the  "  Sublime  and  Beautiful." 
But  the  best  of  his  thoughts  were  given  to  a 
contemplation  of  the  forms  and  principles  of 
civil  society.  In  1757  he  prepared  and  pub- 
lished two  volumes  on  the  "  European  Settle- 
ments in  America,"  in  the  course  of  which,  he 
showed  that  he  had  already  traced  the  char- 
acter of  the  Colonial  institutions  to  the  spirit 
of  their  ancestors,  and  to  an  indomitable  love 
of  liberty.  While  preparing  these  volumes  his 
prophetic  intelligence  came  to  see  the  bound- 


178  EDMUND  BURKE. 

less  resources  and  the  irresistible  strength  that 
the  colonies  were  soon  destined  to  attain.  Thus 
more  than  ten  years  before  the  troubles  with 
America  began,  Burke  had  filled  his  mind  with 
stores  of  knowledge  in  regard  to  American 
affairs,  and  had  qualified  himself  for  those  mar- 
vellous trains  of  reasoning  with  which  he  came 
forward  when  the  Stamp  Act  was  proposed. 
The  very  next  year  after  the  publication  of  his 
treatise  on  the  American  Colonies,  he  pro- 
jected the  Annual  Register  ;  a  work  which  even 
down  to  the  present  day  has  continued  to  give 
a  yearly  account  of  the  most  important  occur- 
rences in  all  parts  of  the  globe.  The  under- 
taking could  hardly  have  been  successful  except 
in  the  hands  of  a  man  of  extraordinary  powers. 
The  first  volumes  were  written  almost  exclu- 
sively by  Burke,  and  the  topics  discussed  as 
well  as  the  events  described,  offered  the  best  of 
opportunities  for  the  exercise  of  his  peculiar 
gifts.  So  great  was  the  demand  for  the  work 
that  the  early  volumes  rapidly  passed  through 
several  editions.  The  first  article  in  the  first 


EDMUND  BURKE.  1/9 

volume  is  devoted  to  the  relations  of  the  Ameri- 
can Colonies  to  the  mother  country;  and  the 
preeminence,  thus  indicated  of  the  American 
question  in  Burke's  mind,  continued  to  be  evi- 
dent till  the  outbreak  of  the  Revolution. 

Burke  entered  Parliament  in  1765,  and  in 
January,  1766,  he  delivered  his  maiden  speech 
in  opposition  to  the  Stamp  Act.  The  effort 
was  not  simply  successful, — it  showed  so  much 
compass  and  power  that  Pitt  publicly  compli- 
mented him  as  "  a  very  able  advocate."  In 
1771,  he  received  the  appointment  of  agent  for 
the  Colony  of  New  York,  a  position  which  he 
continued  to  hold  till  the  outbreak  of  the  war. 
Thus,  not  only  by  his  general  attainments  and 
abilities,  but  also  as  the  result  of  his  special  ap- 
plication to  the  subject,  he  brought  to  the  dis- 
cussion of  the  question  qualifications  that  were 
unequalled  even  by  those  of  Chatham  himself. 

Of  the  speeches  delivered  by  Burke,  in  all 
several  hundred  in  number,  only  six  of  the 
more  important  ones  have  been  preserved. 
These  were  written  out  for  publication  by  the 


180  EDMUND  BURKE. 

orator  himself.  In  point  of  compass  and  vari- 
ety of  thought  as  well  as  in  lofty  declamation 
and  withering  invective  it  is  probable  that  the 
most  remarkable  of  all  his  efforts  was  that  on 
the  "Nabob  of  Arcot's  debts."  But  it  is 
marked  by  the  author's  greatest  faults  as  well 
as  by  his  greatest  merits.  For  five  hours  he 
poured  out  the  pitiless  and  deluging  torrents 
of  his  denunciations;  and  the  reader  who  now 
sits  down  to  the  task  of  mastering  the  speech  is 
as  certain  to  be  wearied  by  it  as  were  the  mem- 
bers of  the  House  of  Commons  when  it  was  de- 
livered. The  speech  on  "  Conciliation  with 
America "  is  marred  by  fewer  blemishes,  and 
its  positive  merits  are  of  transcendant  impor- 
tance. That  this  great  utterance  exerted  a  vast 
influence  on  both  sides  of  the  Atlantic  admits  of 
no  doubt.  It  is  worthy  of  note,  however,  that 
during  the  greater  part  of  Burke's  political  life 
he  was  in  the  opposition,  and  that  by  those  in 
power,  he  was  regarded  as  simply  what  Lord 
Lauderdale  once  called  him,  "  a  splendid  mad- 
man." To  this  characterization  Fox  replied : 


EDMUND  BURKE.  l8l 

"  It  is  difficult  to  say  whether  he  is  mad  or  in- 
spired, but  whether  the  one  or  the  other,  every- 
one must  agree  that  he  is  a  prophet."  And  at 
a  much  later  period  Lord  Brougham  observed 
that  "  All  his  predictions,  except  one  momen- 
tary expression,  have  been  more  than  fulfilled." 


MR.  BURKE. 


ON    MOVING    RESOLUTIONS    FOR   CONCILIATION  WITH 
AMERICA.       HOUSE  OF  COMMONS,  MARCH  22,   1775. 

THE  repeal  of  the  Grenville  Stamp  Act  had  not  brought  a 
return  of  friendly  feeling,  for  the  reason  that  the  Commons 
had  preferred  to  adopt  the  policy  of  George  III.  instead  of 
the  policy  of  Pitt.  The  right  to  tax  America  was  affirmed  in 
the  very  act  withdrawing  the  tax.  When  Lord  North  came 
into  power  he  adopted  a  weak  and  fatal  mixture  of  concession 
and  coercion.  After  the  destruction  of  the  tea  in  Boston 
harbor  the  policy  of  coercion  became  dominant.  In  1774,  the 
Charter  of  Massachusetts  was  taken  away,  and  the  port  of 
Boston  was  closed  to  all  commerce.  The  British  Government 
labored  under  the  singular  delusion  that  the  inconvenience 
thus  inflicted  would  bring  the  colonies  at  once  to  terms.  It 
was  boldly  said  that  the  question  was  merely  one  of  shillings 
and  pence,  and  that  the  colonists  would  give  way  as  soon  as 
they  came  to  see  that  their  policy  entailed  a  loss.  There  were 
a  few  who  held  the  opposite  ground.  On  the  night  of  April 
19,  1774,  Mr.  Fuller  moved  to  go  "into  Committee  of  the 
whole  House  to  take  into  consideration  the  duty  of  threepence 
a  pound  on  tea,  payable  in  all  his  Majesty's  dominions  in 
America."  It  was  understood  that  the  aim  of  the  motion  was 
the  repealing  of  the  Act ;  and  it  was  in  seconding  the  motion 
that  Mr.  Burke  made  his  famous  speech  on  American  taxation. 

But  the  policy  advocated  in  the  speech  was  voted  down  by 
182 


CONCILIA  TION.  183 

182  to  49.  Thus  the  ministry  determined  to  drift  on  in  the 
old  way.  It  soon  became  evident,  however,  that  some  change 
was  imperatively  necessary.  The  method  determined  upon  by 
Lord  North  was  an  insidious  scheme  for  sowing  dissensions 
among  the  colonies,  and  thus  breaking  that  strength  which 
comes  from  united  action.  His  plan  was  to  offer  that  when- 
ever a  colony,  in  addition  to  providing  for  its  own  govern- 
ment, should  raise  a  fair  proportion  for  the  general  defence, 
and  should  place  this  sum  at  the  disposal  of  Parliament,  that 
colony  should  be  exempted  from  all  further  taxation,  except 
such  duties  as  might  be  necessary  for  the  regulation  of  com- 
merce. He  thus  designed  to  array  the  colonies  against  one 
another,  and  so  open  the  way  for  treating  with  them  individu- 
ally. This  was  put  forward  by  North  as  a  plan  for  conciliation. 
While  Burke  saw  clearly  the  mischief  that  lurked  in  the 
scheme  of  the  ministry,  he  was  anxious  to  avail  himself  of  the 
idea  of  conciliation ;  and  with  this  end  in  view  he  brought 
forward  a  series  of  resolutions  "  to  admit  the  Americans  to  an 
equal  interest  in  the  British  Constitution,  and  to  place  them  at 
once  on  the  footing  of  other  Englishmen."  It  was  in  moving 
these  resolutions  that  the  following  speech  was  made. 

The  method  of  treatment  by  the  orator  is  so  elaborate,  that 
a  brief  analysis  of  the  argument  may  be  of  service.  The 
speech  is  divided  into  two  parts  :  first,  Ought  we  to  make  con- 
cessions ?  and  if  so,  secondly,  What  ought  we  to  concede  ? 
Under  the  first  head  the  orator  enters  with  surprising  minute- 
ness of  detail  into  an  examination  of  the  condition  of  the  colo- 
nies. He  surveys  (i)  their  population  ;  (2)  their  commerce  ; 
(3)  their  agriculture,  and  (4)  their  fisheries.  Having  thus  de- 
termined their  material  condition,  he  shows  that  force  cannot 
hold  a  people  possessing  such  advantages  in  subjection  to  the 
mother  country,  if  they  are  inspired  with  a  spirit  of  liberty. 
He  shows  that  such  a  spirit  prevails,  and  examining  it,  he 
traces  it  to  six  sources  :  (i)  the  descent  of  the  people  ;  (2)  their 


1 84  MR.   BURKE. 

forms  of  government ;  (3)  the  religious  principles  of  the  North; 
(4)  the  social  institutions  of  the  South  ;  (5)  the  peculiarities  of 
their  education,  and  (6)  their  remoteness  from  Great  Britain. 
He  then  sums  up  the  first  part,  by  showing  that  it  is  vain  to 
think  either  (i)  of  removing  these  causes,  or  (2)  of  regarding 
them  as  criminal.  Reaching  the  conclusion  then,  that  concilia- 
tion is  the  true  policy,  he  proceeds  to  inquire  what  this  con- 
cession should  be.  Obviously  it  should  relate  to  taxation, 
since  taxation  is  the  cause  of  the  contest.  Referring  to  the 
earlier  history  of  Ireland,  Durham,  Chester,  and  Wales,  he 
shows  that  in  every  case,  either  an  independent  parliament 
existed,  or  the  territory  was  admitted  to  representation  in  the 
English  Parliament.  He  then  points  out  that  direct  represen- 
tation of  the  colonies  is  impracticable,  and  he  shows  the  evils 
that  would  result  from  the  adoption  of  Lord  North's  scheme. 
Finally,  he  reaches  the  conclusion  that  Americans  ought  to  be 
admitted  to  the  privileges  of  Englishmen — the  privilege  of 
contributing  whatever  they  grant  to  the  Crown  through  their 
own  legislature.  To  this  end  he  presents  six  resolutions, 
with  a  brief  consideration  of  which  he  closes  the  speech. 

This  brief  outline  is  perhaps  enough  to  show  that  the 
speech  is  remarkable  for  its  logical  order,  and  for  its  happy 
grouping  of  historical  facts.  But  so  far  from  being  a  collec- 
tion of  mere  matters  of  fact,  it  is  enriched  from  beginning  to 
end  with  thoughts  and  reflections  from  a  brain  teeming  with 
jdeas  on  the  science  of  government.  It  abounds  with  pas- 
sages that  have  always  been  greatly  admired,  and  the  train  of 
argument  is  not  interrupted  by  the  introduction  of  matter  only 
remotely  relevant  to  the  subject  in  hand.  It  may  be  said 
therefore  to  have  more  of  the  author's  characteristic  merits, 
and  fewer  of  his  characteristic  defects,  than  any  other  of  his 
speeches.  Every  careful  student  will  probably  agree  with  Sir 
James  Mackintosh  in  pronouncing  it  "  the  most  faultless  of 
Mr.  Burke's  productions." 


CONCILIATION.  1 85 

MR.  SPEAKER  : 

I  HOPE,  sir,  that,  notwithstanding  the  auster- 
ity of  the  chair,  your  good  nature  will  incline 
you  to  some  degree  of  indulgence  toward  hu- 
man frailty.36  You  will  not  think  it  unnatural 
that  those  who  have  an  object  depending,  which 
strongly  engages  their  hopes  and  fears,  should 
be  somewhat  inclined  to  superstition.  As  I 
came  into  the  House  full  of  anxiety  about  the 
event  of  my  motion,  I  found,  to  my  infinite 
surprise,  that  the  grand  penal  bill,  by  which  we 
had  passed  sentence  on  the  trade  and  suste- 
nance of  America,  is  to  be  returned  to  us  from 
the  other  House.37  I  do  confess,  I  could  not 
help  looking  on  this  event  as  a  fortunate  omen. 
I  look  upon  it  as  a  sort  of  providential  favor, 
by  which  we  are  put  once  more  in  possession 
of  our  deliberative  capacity,  upon  a  business  so 
very  questionable  in  its  nature,  so  very  uncer- 
tain in  its  issue.  By  the  return  of  this  bill, 
which  seemed  to  have  taken  its  flight  forever, 
we  are,  at  this  very  instant,  nearly  as  free  to 
choose  a  plan  for  our  American  government,  as 
we  were  on  the  first  day  of  the  session.  If,  sir, 
we  incline  to  the  side  of  conciliation,  we  are 
not  at  all  embarrassed  (unless  we  please  to  make 
ourselves  so)  by  any  incongruous  mixture  of 


1 86  MR.   BURKE. 

coercion  and  restraint.  We  are  therefore  called 
upon,  as  it  were  by  a  superior  warning  voice, 
again  to  attend  to  America  ;  to  attend  to  the 
whole  of  it  together;  and  to  review  the  sub- 
ject with  an  unusual  degree  of  care  and  calm- 
ness. 

Surely  it  is  an  awful  subject,  or  there  is  none 
so  on  this  side  of  the  grave.  When  I  first  had 
the  honor  of  a  seat  in  this  House,  the  affairs  of 
that  continent  pressed  themselves  upon  us  as 
the  most  important  and  most  delicate  object  of 
parliamentary  attention.  My  little  share  in 
this  great  deliberation  oppressed  me.  I  found 
myself  a  partaker  in  a  very  high  trust ;  and 
having  no  sort  of  reason  to  rely  on  the  strength 
of  my  natural  abilities  for  the  proper  execution 
of  that  trust,  I  was  obliged  to  take  more  than 
common  pains  to  instruct  myself  in  every  thing 
which  relates  to  our  colonies.  I  was  not  less 
under  the  necessity  of  forming  some  fixed  ideas 
concerning  the  general  policy  of  the  British 
empire.  Something  of  this  sort  seemed  to  be 
indispensable,  in  order,  amid  so  vast  a  fluctua- 
tion of  passions  and  opinions,  to  concentre  my 
thoughts  ;  to  ballast  my  conduct ;  to  preserve 
me  from  being  blown  about  by  every  wind  of 
fashionable  doctrine.  I  really  did  not  think  it 


CONCILIA  TION.  1 8  7 

safe  or  manly,  to  have  fresh  principles  to  seek 
upon  every  fresh  mail  which  should  arrive  from 
America. 

At  that  period  I  had  the  fortune  to  find  my- 
self in  perfect  concurrence  with  a  large  majority 
in  this  House.38  Bowing  under  that  high  au- 
thority, and  penetrated  with  the  sharpness  and 
strength  of  that  early  impression,  I  have  con- 
tinued ever  since  in  my  original  sentiments 
without  the  least  deviation.  Whether  this  be 
owing  to  an  obstinate  perseverance  in  error, 
or  to  a  religious  adherence  to  what  appears 
to  me  truth  and  reason,  it  is  in  your  equity  to 
judge. 

Sir,  Parliament  having  an  enlarged  view  of 
objects,  made,  during  this  interval,  more  fre- 
quent changes  in  their  sentiment  and  their  con- 
duct than  could  be  justified  in  a  particular 
person  upon  the  contracted  scale  of  private  in- 
formation. But  though  I  do  not  hazard  any 
thing  approaching  to  a  censure  on  the  motives 
of  former  Parliaments  to  all  those  alterations, 
one  fact  is  undoubted — that  under  them  the 
state  of  America  has  been  kept  in  continual 
agitation.  Everything  administered  as  remedy 
to  the  public  complaint,  if  it  did  not  produce, 
was  at  least  followed  by,  a  heightening  of  the 


188  MR.   BURKE. 

distemper;  until,  by  a  variety  of  experiments, 
that  important  country  has  been  brought  into 
her  present  situation — a  situation  which  I  will 
not  miscall,  which  I  dare  not  name,  which  I 
scarcely  know  how  to  comprehend  in  the  terms 
of  any  description. 

In  this  posture,  sir,  things  stood  at  the  be- 
ginning of  the  session.  About  that  time,  a 
worthy  member  of  great  parliamentary  experi- 
ence, who,  in  the  year  1766,  filled  the  chair  of 
the  American  committee  with  much  ability, 
took  me  aside,  and,  lamenting  the  present  as- 
pect of  our  politics,  told  me  things  were  come 
to  such  a  pass  that  our  former  methods  of  pro- 
ceeding in  the  House  would  be  no  longer  toler- 
ated. That  the  public  tribunal  (never  too  in- 
dulgent to  a  long  and  unsuccessful  opposition) 
would  now  scrutinize  our  conduct  with  unusual 
severity.  That  the  very  vicissitudes  and  shift- 
ings  of  ministerial  measures,  instead  of  convict- 
ing their  authors  of  inconstancy  and  want  of  sys- 
tem, would  be  taken  as  an  occasion  of  charging 
us  with  a  predetermined  discontent,  which 
nothing  could  satisfy  ;  while  we  accused  every 
measure  of  vigor  as  cruel,  and  every  proposal 
of  lenity  as  weak  and  irresolute.  The  public, 
he  said,  would  not  have  patience  to  see  us  play 


CONCILIA  TION.  1 89 

the  game  out  with  our  adversaries :  we  must 
produce  our  hand.  It  would  be  expected  that 
those  who,  for  many  years,  had  been  active  in 
such  affairs,  should  show  that  they  had  formed 
some  clear  and  decided  idea  of  the  principles  of 
colony  government,  and  were  capable  of  draw- 
ing out  something  like  a  platform  of  the  ground 
which  might  be  laid  for  future  and  permanent 
tranquillity. 

I  felt  the  truth  of  what  my  honorable  friend 
represented,  but  I  felt  my  situation  too.  His 
application  might  have  been  made  with  far 
greater  propriety  to  many  other  gentlemen. 
No  man  was,  indeed,  ever  better  disposed  or 
worse  qualified  for  such  an  undertaking  than 
myself.  Though  I  gave  so  far  into  his  opinion 
that  I  immediately  threw  my  thoughts  into  a 
sort  of  parliamentary  form,  I  was  by  no  means 
equally  ready  to  produce  them.  It  generally 
argues  some  degree  of  natural  impotence  of 
mind,  or  some  want  of  knowledge  of  the  world, 
to  hazard  plans  of  government,  except  from  a 
seat  of  authority.3  9  Propositions  are  made,  not 
only  ineffectually,  but  somewhat  disreputably, 
when  the  minds  of  men  are  not  properly  dis- 
posed for  their  reception  ;  and,  for  my  part,  I 
am  not  ambitious  of  ridicule — not  absolutely 
a  candidate  for  disgrace. 


MR.   BURKE. 


Besides,  sir,  to  speak  the  plain  truth,  I  have 
in  general  no  very  exalted  opinion  of  the  virtue 
of  paper  government,  nor  of  any  politics  in 
which  the  plan  is  to  be  wholly  separated  from 
the  execution.  But  when  I  saw  that  anger  and 
violence  prevailed  every  day  more  and  more, 
and  that  things  were  hastening  toward  an  in- 
curable alienation  of  our  colonies,  I  confess  my 
caution  gave  way.  I  felt  this  as  one  of  those 
few  moments  in  which  decorum  yields  to  a 
higher  duty.  Public  calamity  is  a  mighty  lev- 
eller, and  there  are  occasions  when  any,  even  the 
slightest,  chance  of  doing  good,  must  be  laid 
hold  on,  even  by  the  most  inconsiderable  per- 
son. 

To  restore  order  and  repose  to  an  empire  so 
great  and  so  distracted  as  ours,  is  merely  in  the 
attempt  an  undertaking  that  would  ennoble 
the  flights  of  the  highest  genius,  and  obtain 
pardon  for  the  efforts  of  the  meanest  under- 
standing. Struggling  a  good  while  with  these 
thoughts,  by  degrees  I  felt  myself  more  firm. 
I  derived,  at  length,  some  confidence  from 
what  in  other  circumstances  usually  produces 
timidity.  I  grew  less  anxious,  even  from  the 
idea  of  my  own  insignificance.  For,  judging  of 
what  you  are  by  what  you  ought  to  be,  I  per- 


CONCILIA  TION.  1 9 1 

suaded  myself  that  you  would  not  reject  a 
reasonable  proposition  because  it  had  nothing 
but  its  reason  to  recommend  it.  On  the  other 
hand,  being  totally  destitute  of  all  shadow  of 
influence,  natural  or  adventitious,  I  was  very 
sure  that  if  my  proposition  were  futile  or  dan- 
gerous— if  it  were  weakly  conceived  or  improp- 
erly timed,  there  was  nothing  exterior  to  it  of 
power  to  awe,  dazzle,  or  delude  you.  You  will 
see  it  just  as  it  is,  and  you  will  treat  it  just  as 
it  deserves. 

The  PROPOSITION  is  peace.40  Not  peace 
through  the  medium  of  war ;  not  peace  to  be 
hunted  through  the  labyrinth  of  intricate  and 
endless  negotiations ;  not  peace  to  arise  out  of 
universal  discord,  fomented  from  principle,  in 
all  parts  of  the  empire ;  not  peace  to  depend  on 
the  juridical  determination  of  perplexing  ques- 
tions, or  the  precise  marking  the  shadowy  boun- 
daries of  a  complex  government.  It  is  simple 
peace,  sought  in  its  natural  course  and  its  ordi- 
nary haunts.  It  is  peace  sought  in  the  spirit  of 
peace,  and  laid  in  principles  purely  pacific.  I 
propose,  by  removing  the  ground  of  the  differ- 
ence, and  by  restoring  the  former  unsuspecting 
confidence  of  the  colonies  in  the  mother  country  f1 
to  give  permanent  satisfaction  to  your  people  ; 


192  MR.    BURKE. 

and,  far  from  a  scheme  of  ruling  by  discord,  to 
reconcile  them  to  each  other  in  the  same  act, 
and  by  the  bond  of  the  very  same  interest, 
which  reconciles  them  to  British  government. 

My  idea  is  nothing  more.  Refined  policy 
ever  has  been  the  parent  of  confusion,  and  ever 
will  be  so  as  long  as  the  world  endures.  Plain 
good  intention,  which  is  as  easily  discovered  at 
the  first  view  as  fraud  is  surely  detected  at  last, 
is  (let  me  say)  of  no  mean  force  in  the  govern- 
ment of  mankind.  Genuine  simplicity  of  heart 
is  a  healing  and  cementing  principle.  My  plan, 
therefore,  being  formed  upon  the  most  simple 
grounds  imaginable,  may  disappoint  some  peo- 
ple when  they  hear  it.  It  has  nothing  to  rec- 
ommend it  to  the  pruriency  of  curious  ears. 
There  is  nothing  at  all  new  and  captivating  in 
it.  It  has  nothing  of  the  splendor  of  the 
project  which  has  been  lately  laid  upon  your 
table  by  the  noble  Lord  in  the  blue  ribbon.42 
It  does  not  propose  to  fill  your  lobby  with 
squabbling  colony  agents,  who  will  require  the 
interposition  of  your  mace  at  every  instant  to 
keep  the  peace  among  them.  It  does  not  insti- 
tute a  magnificent  auction  of  finance,  where 
captivated  provinces  come  to  general  ransom 
by  bidding  against  each  other,  until  you  knock 


CONCILIATION.  193 

down  the  hammer,  and  determine  a  proportion 
of  payments  beyond  all  the  powers  of  algebra 
to  equalize  and  settle. 

The  plan  which  I  shall  presume  to  suggest 
derives,  however,  one  great  advantage  from  the 
proposition  and  registry  of  that  noble  Lord's 
project.  The  idea  of  conciliation  is  admissible. 
First,  the  House,  in  accepting  the  resolution 
moved  by  the  noble  Lord,  has  admitted,  not- 
withstanding the  menacing  front  of  our  ad- 
dress,43 notwithstanding  our  heavy  bill  of  pains 
and  penalties,  that  we  do  not  think  ourselves 
precluded  from  all  ideas  of  free  grace  and 
bounty. 

The  House  has  gone  farther ;  it  has  declared 
conciliation  admissible,  previous  to  any  submis- 
sion on  the  part  of  America.  It  has  even  shot 
a  good  deal  beyond  that  mark,  and  has  ad- 
mitted that  the  complaints  of  our  former  mode 
of  exerting  the  right  of  taxation  were  not 
wholly  unfounded.  That  right,  thus  exerted, 
is  allowed  to  have  had  something  reprehensible 
in  it,  something  unwise,  or  something  grievous; 
since,  in  the  midst  of  our  heat  and  resentment, 
we,  of  ourselves,  have  proposed  a  capital  altera- 
tion, and,  in  order  to  get  rid  of  what  seemed 
so  very  exceptionable,  have  instituted  a  mode 


194  MR.   BURKE. 

that  is  altogether  new ;  one  that  is,  indeed, 
wholly  alien  from  all  the  ancient  methods  and 
forms  of  Parliament. 

The  principle  of  this  proceeding  is  large 
enough  for  my  purpose.  The  means  proposed 
by  the  noble  Lord  for  carrying  his  ideas  into 
execution,  I  think,  indeed,  are  very  indifferently 
suited  to  the  end ;  and  this  I  shall  endeavor  to 
show  you  before  I  sit  down.  But,  for  the  pres- 
ent, I  take  my  ground  on  the  admitted  principle. 
I  mean  to  give  peace.  Peace  implies  reconcili- 
ation ;  and,  where  there  has  been  a  material  dis- 
pute, reconciliation  does  in  a  manner  always 
imply  concession  on  the  one  part  or  on  the 
other.  In  this  state  of  things  I  make  no  diffi- 
culty in  affirming  that  the  proposal  ought  to 
originate  from  us.  Great  and  acknowledged 
force  is  not  impaired,  either  in  effect  or  in 
opinion,  by  an  unwillingness  to  exert  itself. 
The  superior  power  may  offer  peace  with  honor 
and  with  safety.  Such  an  offer  from  such  a 
power  will  be  attributed  to  magnanimity.  But 
the  concessions  of  the  weak  are  the  concessions 
of  fear.  When  such  a  one  is  disarmed,  he  is 
wholly  at  the  mercy  of  his  superior,  and  he  loses 
forever  that  time  and  those  chances  which,  as 
they  happen  to  all  men,  are  the  strength  and 
resources  of  all  inferior  power. 


CONCILIA  TION.  1 9  5 

The  capital  leading  questions  on  which  you 
must  this  day  decide,  are  these  two:  First, 
whether  you  ought  to  concede ;  and,  secondly, 
wJiat  your  concession  ought  to  be. 

On  the  first  of  these  questions  we  have 
gained,  as  I  have  just  taken  the  liberty  of  ob- 
serving to  you,  some  ground.  But  I  am  sen- 
sible that  a  good  deal  more  is  still  to  be  done. 
Indeed,  sir,  to  enable  us  to  determine  both  on 
the  one  and  the  other  of  these  great  questions 
with  a  firm  and  precise  judgment,  I  think  it 
may  be  necessary  to  consider  distinctly. 

The  true  nature  and  the  peculiar  circum- 
stances of  the  object  which  we  have  before  us; 
because,  after  all  our  struggle,  whether  we  will 
or  not,  we  must  govern  America  according  to 
that  nature  and  to  those  circumstances,  and 
not  according  to  our  imaginations ;  not  accord- 
ing to  abstract  ideas  of  right ;  by  no  means 
according  to  mere  general  theories  of  govern- 
ment, the  resort  to  which  appears  to  me,  in  our 
present  situation,  no  better  than  arrant  trifling. 
I  shall  therefore  endeavor,  with  your  leave,  to 
lay  before  you  some  of  the  most  material  of 
these  circumstances  in  as  full  and  as  clear  a 
manner  as  I  am  able  to  state  them. 

(i)  The  first  thing  that  we  have  to  consider 


196  MR.    BURKE. 

with  regard  to  the  nature  of  the  object,  is  the 
number  of  people  in  the  colonies.  I  have 
taken  for  some  years  a  good  deal  of  pains  on 
that  point.  I  can  by  no  calculation  justify 
myself  in  placing  the  number  below  two  mil- 
lions of  inhabitants  of  our  own  European  blood 
and  color,  besides  at  least  five  hundred  thou- 
sand others,  who  form  no  inconsiderable  part  of 
the  strength  and  opulence  of  the  whole.  This, 
sir,  is,  I  believe,  about  the  true  number. 
There  is  no  occasion  to  exaggerate,  where 
plain  truth  is  of  so  much  weight  and  import- 
ance. But  whether  I  put  the  present  numbers 
too  high  or  too  low,  is  a  matter  of  little 
moment.  Such  is  the  strength  with  which 
population  shoots  in  that  part  of  the  world, 
that,  state  the  numbers  as  high  as  we  will, 
while  the  dispute  continues,  the  exaggeration 
ends.  While  we  are  discussing  any  given  mag- 
nitude, they  are  grown  to  it.  While  we  spend 
our  time  in  deliberating  on  the  mode  of  gov- 
erning two  millions,  we  shall  find  we  have 
two  millions  more  to  manage.  Your  children 
do  not  grow  faster  from  infancy  to  manhood, 
than  they  spread  from  families  to  communities, 
and  from  villages  to  nations.44 

I  put  this  consideration  of  the  present  and 


CONCILIA  TION,  1 97 

the  growing  numbers  in  the  front  of  our  delib- 
eration ;  because,  sir,  this  consideration  will 
make  it  evident  to  a  blunter  discernment  than 
yours,  that  no  partial,  narrow,  contracted, 
pinched,  occasional  system  will  be  at  all  suit- 
able to  such  an  object.  It  will  show  you  that 
it  is  not  to  be  considered  as  one  of  those 
minima  45  which  are  out  of  the  eye  and  consid- 
eration 01  the  law  ;  not  a  paltry  excrescence  of 
the  state ;  not  a  mean  dependent,  who  may  be 
neglected  with  little  damage,  and  provoked 
with  little  danger.  It  will  prove  that  some 
degree  of  care  and  caution  is  required  in  the 
handling  such  an  object ;  it  will  show  that  you 
ought  not,  in  reason,  to  trifle  with  so  large  a 
mass  of  the  interests  and  feelings  of  the  human 
race.  You  could  at  no  time  do  so  without 
guilt ;  and,  be  assured,  you  will  not  be  able  to 
do  it  long  with  impunity. 

But  the  population  of  this  country,  the  great 
and  growing  population,  though  a  very  impor- 
tant consideration,  will  lose  much  of  its  weight, 
if  not  combined  with  other  circumstances. 
The  commerce  of  your  colonies  is  out  of  all 
proportion  beyond  the  numbers  of  the  people. 
This  ground  of  their  commerce,  indeed,  has 
been  trod  some  days  ago,  and  with  great 


198  MR.   BURKE. 

ability,  by  a  distinguished  person  at  your  bar.46 
This  gentleman,  after  thirty-five  years — it  is  so 
long  since  he  appeared  at  the  same  place  to 
plead  for  the  commerce  of  Great  Britain — 
has  come  again  before  you  to  plead  the  same 
cause,  without  any  other  effect  of  time,  than 
that,  to  the  fire  of  imagination  and  extent 
of  erudition  which  even  then  marked  him  as 
one  of  the  first  literary  characters  of  his  age, 
he  has  added  a  consummate  knowledge  in  the 
commercial  interest  of  his  country,  formed  by  a 
long  course  of  enlightened  and  discriminating 
experience. 

Sir,  I  should  be  inexcusable  in  coming  after 
such  a  person  with  any  detail,  if  a  great  part  of 
the  members  who  now  fill  the  House  had  not 
the  misfortune  to  be  absent  when  he  appeared 
at  your  bar.  Besides,  sir,  I  propose  to  take  the 
matter  at  periods  of  time  somewhat  different 
from  his.  There  is,  if  I  mistake  not,  a  point  of 
view,  from  whence,  if  you  will  look  at  this  sub- 
ject, it  is  impossible  that  it  should  not  make  an 
impression  upon  you. 

I  have  in  my  hand  two  accounts :  one  a 
comparative  state  of  the  export  trade  of 
England  to  its  colonies  as  it  stood  in  the  year 
1704,  and  as  it  stood  in  the  year  1772  ;  the 


CONCILIATION.  199 

other  a  state  of  the  export  trade  of  this  country 
to  its  colonies  alone,  as  it  stood  in  1772,  com- 
pared with  the  whole  trade  of  England  to 
all  parts  of  the  world,  the  colonies  included, 
in  the  year  1704.  They  are  from  good  vouch- 
ers ;  the  latter  period  from  the  accounts  on 
your  table,  the  earlier  from  an  orignal  manu- 
script of  Davenant,  who  first  established  the 
inspector  general's  office,  which  has  been 
ever  since  his  time  so  abundant  a  source  of 
parliamentary  information.47 

The  export  trade  to  the  colonies  consists 
of  three  great  branches :  the  African,  which, 
terminating  almost  wholly  in  the  colonies,  must 
be  put  to  the  account  of  their  commerce  ;  the 
West  Indian,  and  the  North  American.  All 
these  are  so  interwoven,  that  the  attempt  to 
separate  them  would  tear  to  pieces  the  context- 
ure of  the  whole,  and,  if  not  entirely  destroy, 
would  very  much  depreciate  the  value  of  all  the 
parts.  I  therefore  consider  these  three  denom- 
inations to  be,  what  in  effect  they  are,  one 
trade. 

The  trade  to  the  colonies,  taken  on  the  export 
side,  at  the  beginning  of  this  century,  that  is,  in 
the  year  1704,  stood  thus: 


200  MR.   BURKE. 

Exports  to  North  America  and  the  West 

Indies         ...  .  ^483,265 

To  Africa       ......         86,665 


In  the  year  1772,  which  I  take  as  a  middle 
year  between  the  highest  and  lowest  of  those 
lately  laid  on  your  table,  the  account  was  as 
follows  : 

To   North    America    and    the    West 

Indies  .....  ^4,791,734 

To  Africa  .....  866,398 

To  which,  if  you  add  the  export  trade 

from  Scotland,  which  had  in   1704 

no  existence  ....  364,000 


^"6,022,132 

From  five  hundred  and  odd  thousand,  it  has 
grown  to  six  millions.  It  has  increased  no 
less  than  twelve-fold.  This  is  the  state  of  the 
colony  trade,  as  compared  with  itself  at  these 
two  periods,  within  this  century ;  and  this  is 
matter  for  meditation.  But  this  is  not  all. 
Examine  my  second  account.  See  how  the  ex- 
port trade  to  the  colonies  alone  in  1772  stood 
in  the  other  point  of  view,  that  is,  as  compared 
to  the  whole  trade  of  England  in  1704. 


CONCILIA  TION.  2O I 

The  whole  export  trade  of  England, 

including  that  to  the  colonies,  in 

1704  .  ...     ^6,509,000 

Exported   to   the   colonies   alone,   in 

1772        .         .         .  .        6,024,000 


Difference  .        ^485,000 

The  trade  with  America  alone  is  now  within 
less  than  p£  500,000  of  being  equal  to  what  this 
great  commercial  nation,  England,  carried  on  at 
the  beginning  of  this  century  with  the  whole 
world  !  If  I  had  taken  the  largest  year  of  those 
on  your  table,  it  would  rather  have  exceeded. 
But,  it  will  be  said,  is  not  this  American  trade 
an  unnatural  protuberance,  that  has  drawn  the 
juices  from  the  rest  of  the  body  ?  The  reverse. 
It  is  the  very  food  that  has  nourished  every  other 
part  into  its  present  magnitude.  Our  general 
trade  has  been  greatly  augmented,  and  aug- 
mented more  or  less  in  almost  every  part  to  which 
it  ever  extended,  but  with  this  material  differ- 
ence, that  of  the  six  millions  which  in  the  be- 
ginning of  the  century  constituted  the  whole 
mass  of  our  export  commerce,  the  colony  trade 
was  but  one  twelfth  part ;  it  is  now  (as  a  part 
of  sixteen  millions)  considerably  more  than  a 
third  of  the  whole.  This  is  the  relative  proper- 


202  MR,   BURKE. 

tion  of  the  importance  of  the  colonies  of  these 
two  periods  ;  and  all  reasoning  concerning  our 
mode  of  treating  them  must  have  this  propor- 
tion as  its  basis,  or  it  is  a  reasoning  weak,  rot- 
ten, and  sophistical.48 

Mr.  Speaker,  I  cannot  prevail  on  myself  to 
hurry  over  this  great  consideration.  It  is  good 
for  us  to  be  here.  We  stand  where  we  have  an 
immense  view  of  what  is,  and  what  is  past. 
Clouds,  indeed,  and  darkness,  rest  upon  the  fu- 
ture. Let  us,  however,  before  we  descend  from 
this  noble  eminence,  reflect  that  this  growth  of 
our  national  prosperity  has  happened  within  the 
short  period  of  the  life  of  man.  "It  has  happened 
within  sixty-eight  years.  There  are  those  alive 
whose  memory  might  touch  the  two  extremities. 
For  instance,  my  Lord  Bathurst  might  remem- 
ber all  the  stages  of  the  progress.  He  was  in 
1704  of  an  age  at  least  to  be  made  to  compre- 
hend such  things.  He  was  then  old  enough  "  acta 
parentum  jam.  legere  et  qua  sit  poterit  cognos- 
cere  virtus"*' 9  Suppose,  sir,  that  the  angel  of  this 
auspicious  youth,  foreseeing  the  many  virtues 
which  made  him  one  of  the  most  amiable,  as  he 
is  one  of  the  most  fortunate  men  of  his  age,  had 
opened  to  him  in  vision,  that  when,  in  the  fourth 
generation,  the  third  prince  of  the  House  of 


CONCILIA  TION.  203 

Brunswick  had  sat  twelve  years  on  the  throne 
of  that  nation,  which,  by  the  happy  issue  of 
moderate  and  healing  councils,  was  to  be  made 
Great  Britain,  he  should  see  his  son,  Lord 
Chancellor  of  England,  turn  back  the  current  of 
hereditary  dignity  to  its  fountain,  and  raise  him 
to  a  higher  rank  of  peerage,  while  he  enriched  the 
family  with  a  new  one.  If,  amid  these  bright 
and  happy  scenes  of  domestic  honor  and  pros- 
perity, that  angel  should  have  drawn  up  the 
curtain,  and  unfolded  the  rising  glories  of  his 
country,  and  while  he  was  gazing  with  admira- 
tion on  the  then  commercial  grandeur  of  Eng- 
land, the  genius  should  point  out  to  him  a  little 
speck,  scarce  visible  in  the  mass  of  the  national 
interest,  a  small  seminal  principle  rather  than  a 
formed  body,  and  should  tell  him  :  "  Young  man, 
there  is  America — which  at  this  day  serves  for 
little  more  than  to  amuse  you  with  stories  of 
savage  men  and  uncouth  manners  :  yet  shall,  be- 
fore you  taste  death,  show  itself  equal  to  the 
whole  of  that  commerce  which  now  attracts  the 
envy  of  the  world.  Whatever  England  has  been 
growing  to  by  a  progressive  increase  of  improve- 
ment, brought  in  by  varieties  of  people,  by  suc- 
session  of  civilizing  conquests  and  civilizing 
settlements  in  a  series  of  seventeen  hundred 


204  MR-   BURKE. 

years,  you  shall  see  as  much  added  to  her  by 
America  in  the  course  of  a  single  life!"  If 
this  state  of  his  country  had  been  foretold  to 
him,  would  it  not  require  all  the  sanguine 
credulity  of  youth,  and  all  the  fervid  glow  of 
enthusiasm,  to  make  him  believe  it  ?  Fortunate 
man,  he  has  lived  to  see  it !  Fortunate  indeed, 
if  he  lived  to  see  nothing  to  vary  the  prospect 
and  cloud  the  setting  of  his  day  ! 

Excuse  me,  sir,  if,  turning  from  such  thoughts, 
I  resume  this  comparative  view  once  more. 
You  have  seen  it  on  a  large  scale ;  look  at  it 
on  a  small  one.  I  will  point  out  to  your  atten- 
tion a  particular  instance  of  it  in  the  single 
province  of  Pennsylvania.  In  the  year  1704 
that  province  called  for  .£11,459  m  value  of 
your  commodities,  native  and  foreign.  This 
was  the  whole.  What  did  it  demand  in  1772? 
Why  nearly  fifty  times  as  much ;  for  in  that 
year  the  export  to  Pennsylvania  was  £507,909, 
nearly  equal  to  the  export  to  all  the  colonies 
together  in  the  first  period. 

I  choose,  sir,  to  enter  into  these  minute  and 
particular  details,  because  generalities,  which, 
in  all-other  cases  are  apt  to  heighten  and  raise 
the  subject,  have  here  a  tendency  to  sink  it. 
When  we  speak  of  the  commerce  with  our 


CONCILIA  TION.  2O$ 

colonies,  fiction  lags  after  truth ;  invention  is 
unfruitful,  and  imagination  cold  and  barren. 

So  far,  sir,  as  to  the  importance  of  the  object 
in  the  view  of  its  commerce,  as  concerned  in 
the  exports  from  England.  If  I  were  to  detail 
the  imports,  I  could  show  how  many  enjoy- 
ments they  procure,  which  deceive  the  burden 
of  life ;  how  many  materials  which  invigorate 
the  springs  of  national  industry,  and  extend 
and  animate  every  part  of  our  foreign  and 
domestic  commerce.  This  would  be  a  curious 
subject  indeed  ;  but  I  must  prescribe  bounds  to 
myself  in  a  matter  so  vast  and  various. 

(3)  I  pass,  therefore,  to  the  colonies  in 
another  point  of  view — their  agriculture.  This 
they  have  prosecuted  with  such  a  spirit,  that, 
besides  feeding  plentifully  their  own  growing 
multitude,  their  annual  export  of  grain,  com- 
prehending rice,  has,  some  years  ago,  exceeded 
a  million  in  value.  Of  their  last  harvest  I  am 
persuaded  they  will  export  much  more.  At 
the  beginning  of  the  century,  some  of  these 
colonies  imported  corn  from  the  mother  coun- 
try. For  some  time  past  the  old  world  has 
been  fed  from  the  new.  The  scarcity  which 
you  have  felt  would  have  been  a  desolating 
famine,  if  this  child  of  your  old  age,  with  a  true 


206  MR.   BURKE. 

filial  piety,  with  a  Roman  charity,  had  not  put 
the  full  breast  of  its  youthful  exuberance  to 
the  mouth  of  its  exhausted  parent.60 

As  to  the  wealth  which  the  colonies  have 
drawn  from  the  sea  by  their  fisheries,  you  had 
all  that  matter  fully  opened  at  your  bar.  You 
surely  thought  those  acquisitions  of  value,  for 
they  seemed  even  to  excite  your  envy  ;  and  yet, 
the  spirit  by  which  that  enterprising  employ- 
ment has  been  exercised,  ought  rather,  in  my 
opinion,  to  have  raised  your  esteem  and  admira- 
tion. And  pray,  sir,  what  in  the  world  is  equal 
to  it  ?  Pass  by  the  other  parts,  and  look  at  the 
manner  in  which  the  people  of  New  England 
have  of  late  carried  on  the  whale  fishery. 
While  we  follow  them  among  the  tumbling 
mountains  of  ice,  and  behold  them  penetrating 
into  the  deepest  frozen  recesses  of  Hudson's 
Bay  and  Davis'  Straits — while  we  are  looking 
for  them  beneath  the  arctic  circle,  we  hear  that 
they  have  pierced  into  the  opposite  region  of 
polar  cold — that  they  are  at  the  antipodes,  and 
engaged  under  the  frozen  Serpent  of  the  south. 
Falkland  Island,  which  seemed  too  remote  and 
romantic  an  object  for  the  grasp  of  national 
ambition,  is  but  a  stage  and  resting-place  in  the 
progress  of  their  victorious  industry.  Nor  is 


CONCILIA  TION,  2O/ 

the  equinoctial  heat  more  discouraging  to  them 
than  the  accumulated  winter  of  both  the  poles. 
We  know  that  while  some  of  them  draw  the 
line,  and  strike  the  harpoon  on  the  coast  of 
Africa,  others  run  the  longitude,  and  pursue 
their  gigantic  game  along  the  coast  of  Brazil. 
No  sea  but  what  is  vexed  by  their  fisheries. 
No  climate  that  is  not  witness  to  their  toils. 
Neither  the  perseverance  of  Holland,  nor  the 
activity  of  France,  nor  the  dexterous  and  firm 
sagacity  of  English  enterprise,  ever  carried  this 
most  perilous  mode  of  hardy  industry  to  the 
extent  to  which  it  has  been  pushed  by  this 
recent  people — a  people  who  are  still,  as  it 
were,  but  in  the  gristle,  and  not  yet  hardened 
into  the  bone  of  manhood.  When  I  contem- 
plate these  things — when  I  know  that  the 
colonies  in  general  owe  little  or  nothing  to  any 
care  of  ours,  and  that  they  are  not  squeezed 
into  this  happy  form  by  the  constraints  of 
watchful  and  suspicious  government,  but  that, 
through  a  wise  and  salutary  neglect,  a  generous 
nature  has  been  suffered  to  take  her  own  way 
to  perfection — when  I  reflect  upon  these  effects 
— when  I  see  how  profitable  they  have  been  to 
us,  I  feel  all  the  pride  of  power  sink,  and 
all  presumption  in  the  wisdom  of  human  con- 


2O8  MR.    BURKE. 

trivances  melt,  and  die  away  within  me.  My 
rigor  relents.  I  pardon  something  to  the  spirit 
of  liberty.51 

I  am  sensible,  sir,  that  all  which  I  have  as- 
serted in  my  detail  is  admitted  in  the  gross; 
but  that  quite  a  different  conclusion  is  drawn 
from  it.  America,  gentlemen  say,  is  a  noble 
object.  It  is  an  object  well  worth  fighting  for. 
Certainly  it  is,  if  fighting  a  people  be  the  best 
way  of  gaining  them.  Gentlemen  in  this  re- 
spect will  be  led  to  their  choice  of  means  by 
their  complexions  and  their  habits.  Those 
who  understand  the  military  art  will,  of  course, 
have  some  predilection  for  it.  Those  who  wield 
the  thunder  of  the  State  may  have  more  confi- 
dence in  the  efficacy  of  arms.  But  I  confess, 
possibly  for  want  of  this  knowledge,  my  opinion 
is  much  more  in  favor  of  prudent  management 
than  of  force ;  considering  force  not  as  an  odi- 
ous, but  a  feeble,  instrument  for  preserving  a 
people  so  numerous,  so  active,  so  growing,  so 
spirited  as  this,  in  a  profitable  and  subordinate 
connection  with  us. 

First,  sir,  permit  me  to  observe,  that  the  use 
of  force  alone  is  but  temporary.  It  may  subdue 
for  a  moment,  but  it  does  not  remove  the  ne- 
cessity of  subduing  again ;  and  a  nation  is  not 


CONCILIA  TION.  2OQ 

governed  which  is  perpetually  to  be  conquered. 

My  next  objection  is  its  uncertainty.  Terror 
is  not  always  the  effect  of  force ;  and  an  arma- 
ment is  not  a  victory.  If  you  do  not  succeed, 
you  are  without  resource  ;  for,  conciliation  fail- 
ing, force  remains;  but,  force  failing,  no  farther 
hope  of  reconciliation  is  left.  Power  and  au- 
thority are  sometimes  bought  by  kindness,  but 
they  can  never  be  begged  as  alms  by  an  im- 
poverished and  defeated  violence. 

A  farther  objection  to  force  is,  that  you  im- 
pair the  object  by  your  very  endeavors  to  pre- 
serve it.  The  thing  you  fought  for  is  not  the 
thing  which  you  recover;  but  depreciated, 
sunk,  wasted,  and  consumed  in  the  contest. 
Nothing  less  will  content  me  than  whole 
America.  I  do  not  choose  to  cousume  its 
strength  along  with  our  own,  because  in  all 
parts  it  is  the  British  strength  that  I  consume. 
I  do  not  choose  to  be  caught  by  a  foreign 
enemy  at  the  end  of  this  exhausting  conflict, 
and  still  less  in  the  midst  of  it.  I  may  escape ; 
but  I  can  make  no  insurance  against  such  an 
event.  Let  me  add,  that  I  do  not  choose 
wholly  to  break  the  American  spirit,  because  it 
is  the  spirit  that  has  made  the  country. 

Lastly,  we  have  no  sort  of  experience  in  favor 


210  MR.    BURKE. 

of  force  as  an  instrument  in  the  rule  of  our  colo- 
nies. Their  growth  and  their  utility  have  been 
owing  to  methods  altogether  different.  Our 
ancient  indulgence  has  been  said  to  be  pursued 
to  a  fault.  It  may  be  so  ;  but  we  know,  if  feel- 
ing is  evidence,  that  our  fault  was  more  tolera- 
ble than  our  attempt  to  mend  it ;  and  our  sin 
far  more  salutary  than  our  penitence. 

These,  sir,  are  my  reasons  for  not  entertain- 
ing that  high  opinion  of  untried  force,  by  which 
many  gentlemen,  for  whose  sentiments  in  other 
particulars  I  have  great  respect,  seem  to  be  so 
greatly  captivated. 

But  there  is  still  behind  a  third  consideration 
concerning  this  obj  ect,  which  serves  to  determine 
my  opinion  on  the  sort  of  policy  which  ought 
to  be  pursued  in  the  management  of  America, 
even  more  than  its  population  and  its  commerce 
— I  mean  its  temper  and  character.  In  this 
character  of  the  Americans  a  love  of  freedom 
is  the  predominating  feature,  which  marks  and 
distinguishes  the  whole  ;  and,  as  an  ardent  is 
always  a  jealous  affection,  your  colonies  become 
suspicious,  restive,  and  untractable,  whenever 
they  see  the  least  attempt  to  wrest  from  them 
by  force,  or  shuffle  from  them  by  chicane,  what 
they  think  the  only  advantage  worth  living  for. 


CONCILIA  TION.  2 1 1 

This  fierce  spirit  of  liberty  is  stronger  in  the 
English  colonies,  probably,  than  in  any  other 
people  of  the  earth,  and  this  from  a  variety  of 
powerful  causes,  which,  to  understand  the  true 
temper  of  their  minds,  and  the  direction  which 
this  spirit  takes,  it  will  not  be  amiss  to  lay  open 
somewhat  more  largely. 

First,  the  people  of  the  colonies  are  descend- 
ants of  Englishmen.  England,  sir,  is  a  nation 
which  still,  I  hope,  respects,  and  formerly 
adored  her  freedom.  The  colonists  emigrated 
from  you  when  this  part  of  your  character  was 
most  predominant  52  ;  and  they  took  this  bias 
and  direction  the  moment  they  parted  from 
your  hands.  They  are,  therefore,  not  only  de- 
voted to  liberty,  but  to  liberty  according  to  Eng- 
lish ideas  and  on  English  principles.  Abstract 
liberty,  like  other  mere  abstractions,  is  not  to 
be  found.  Liberty  inheres  in  some  sensible 
object ;  and  every  nation  has  formed  to  itself 
some  favorite  point  which,  by  way  of  eminence, 
becomes  the  criterion  of  their  happiness.  It 
happened  you  know,  sir,  that  the  great  contests 
for  freedom  in  this  country  were,  from  the 
earliest  times  chiefly  upon  the  question  of  tax- 
ing. Most  of  the  contests  in  the  ancient  com- 
monwealths turned  primarily  on  the  right  of 


212  MR.    BURKE. 

election  of  magistrates,  or  on  the  balance  among 
the  several  orders  of  the  State.  The  question 
of  money  was  not  with  them  so  immediate. 
But  in  England  it  was  otherwise.  On  this  point 
of  taxes  the  ablest  pens  and  most  eloquent 
tongues  have  been  exercised  ;  the  greatest 
spirits  have  acted  and  suffered.  In  order  to 
give  the  fullest  satisfaction  concerning  the  im- 
portance of  this  point,  it  was  not  only  necessary 
for  those  who  in  argument  defended  the  excel- 
lence of  the  English  Constitution,  to  insist  on 
this  privilege  of  granting  money  as  a  dry  point 
of  fact,  and  to  prove  that  the  right  had  been 
acknowledged  in  ancient  parchments  and  blind 
usages  to  reside  in  a  certain  body  called  the 
House  of  Commons.  They  went  much  farther: 
they  attempted  to  prove  (and  they  succeeded) 
that  in  theory  it  ought  to  be  so,  from  the  par- 
ticular nature  of  a  House  of  Commons,  as  an 
immediate  representative  of  the  people,  whether 
the  old  records  had  delivered  this  oracle  or  not. 
They  took  infinite  pains  to  inculcate,  as  a 
fundamental  principle,  that,  in  all  monarchies, 
the  people  must,  in  effect,  themselves,  mediately 
or  immediately,  possess  the  power  of  granting 
their  own  money,  or  no  shadow  of  liberty  could 
subsist.  The  colonies  draw  from  you,  as  with 


CONCILIA  TION.  2 1 3 

their  life-blood,  those  ideas  and  principles. 
Their  love  of  liberty,  as  with  you.  fixed  and  at- 
tached on  this  specific  point  of  taxing.  Lib- 
erty might  be  safe  or  might  be  endangered 
in  twenty  other  particulars,  without  their  being 
much  pleased  or  alarmed.  Here  they  felt  its 
pulse ;  and,  as  they  found  that  beat,  they 
thought  themselves  sick  or  sound.  I  do  not 
say  whether  they  were  right  or  wrong  in  apply- 
ing your  general  arguments  to  their  own  case. 
It  is  not  easy,  indeed,  to  make  a  monopoly  of 
theorems  and  corollaries.  The  fact  is,  that 
they  did  thus  apply  those  general  arguments; 
and  your  mode  of  governing  them,  whether 
through  lenity  or  indolence,  through  wisdom  or 
mistake,  confirmed  them  in  the  imagination 
that  they,  as  well  as  you,  had  an  interest  in 
these  common  principles. 

They  were  further  confirmed  in  these  pleas- 
ing errors  by  the  form  of  their  provincial  legisla- 
tive assemblies.  Their  governments  are  popu- 
lar in  a  high  degree  ;  some  are  merely  popular ; 
in  all,  the  popular  representative  is  the  most 
weighty ;  53  and  this  share  of  the  people  in  their 
ordinary  government  never  fails  to  inspire  them 
with  lofty  sentiments,  and  with  a  strong  aver- 
sion from  whatever  tends  to  deprive  them  of 
their  chief  importance. 


214  MR-    BURKE. 

If  any  thing  were  wanting  to  this  necessary' 
operation  of  the  form  of  government,  religion 
would  have  given  it  a  complete  effect.  Re- 
ligion, always  a  principle  of  energy,  in  this  new 
people  is  no  way  worn  out  or  impaired ;  and 
their  mode  of  professing  it  is  also  one  main 
cause  of  this  free  spirit.  The  people  are  Prot- 
estants ;  and  of  that  kind  which  is  the  most 
averse  to  all  implicit  submission  of  mind  and 
opinion.  This  is  a  persuasion  not  only  favor- 
able to  liberty,  but  built  upon  it.  I  do  not 
think,  sir,  that  the  reason  of  this  averseness  in 
the  dissenting  churches  from  all  that  looks  like 
absolute  government,  is  so  much  to  be  sought 
in  their  religious  tenets  as  in  their  history. 
Everyone  knows  that  the  Roman  Catholic  re- 
ligion is  at  least  coeval  with  most  of  the  gov- 
ernments where  it  prevails ;  that  it  has  gener- 
ally gone  hand  in  hand  with  them ;  and  re- 
ceived great  favor  and  every  kind  of  support 
from  authority.  The  Church  of  England,  too, 
was  formed  from  her  cradle  under  the  nursing 
care  of  regular  government.  But  the  dissent- 
ing interests  have  sprung  up  in  direct  opposi- 
tion to  all  the  ordinary  powers  of  the  world, 
and  could  justify  that  opposition  only  on  a 
strong  claim  to  natural  liberty.  Their  very 


CONCILIA  T1ON.  2 1 5 

existence  depended  on  the  powerful  and  un- 
remitted  assertion  of  that  claim.  All  Protes- 
tantism, even  the  most  cold  and  passive,  is  a 
kind  of  dissent.  But  the  religion  most  prev- 
alent in  our  northern  colonies  is  a  refinement 
on  the  principle  of  resistance  ;  it  is  the  dissi- 
dence  of  dissent ;  and  the  Protestantism  of  the 
Protestant  religion.  This  religion,  under  a  va- 
riety of  denominations,  agreeing  in  nothing  but 
in  the  communion  of  the  spirit  of  liberty,  is 
predominant  in  most  of  the  northern  provinces  ; 
where  the  Church  of  England,  notwithstanding 
its  legal  rights,  is  in  reality  no  more  than  a  sort 
of  private  sect,  not  composing,  most  probably, 
the  tenth  of  the  people.  The  colonists  left 
England  when  this  spirit  was  high,  and  in  the 
emigrants  was  the  highest  of  all ;  and  even  that 
stream  of  foreigners,  which  has  been  constantly 
flowing  into  these  colonies,  has,  for  the  greatest 
part,  been  composed  of  dissenters  from  the  es- 
tablishments of  their  several  countries,  and 
have  brought  with  them  a  temper  and  character 
far  from  alien  to  that  of  the  people  with  whom 
they  mixed. 

Sir,  I  can  perceive  by  their  manner  that  some 
gentlemen  object  to  the  latitude  of  this  des- 
cription, because  in  the  southern  colonies  the 


2l6  MR.   BURKE. 

Church  of  England  forms  a  large  body,  and  has 
a  regular  establishment.  It  is  certainly  true. 
There  is,  however,  a  circumstance  attending 
these  colonies,  which,  in  my  opinion,  fully  coun- 
terbalances this  difference,  and  makes  the  spirit 
of  liberty  still  more  high  and  haughty  than  in 
those  to  the  northward.  It  is  that  in  Virginia 
and  the  Carolinas  they  have  a  vast  multitude 
of  slaves.  Where  this  is  the  case  in  any  part 
of  the  world,  those  who  are  free  are  by  far  the 
most  proud  and  jealous  of  their  freedom.  Free- 
dom is  to  them  not  only  an  enjoyment,  but  a 
kind  of  rank  and  privilege.  Not  seeing  there 
that  freedom,  as  in  countries  where  it  is  a  com- 
mon blessing,  and  as  broad  and  general  as  the 
air,  may  be  united  with  much  abject  toil,  with 
great  misery,  with  all  the  exterior  of  servitude, 
liberty  looks,  among  them,  like  something  that 
is  more  noble  and  liberal.  I  do  not  mean,  sir, 
to  commend  the  superior  morality  of  this  senti- 
ment, which  has  at  least  as  much  pride  as  vir- 
tue in  it ;  but  I  cannot  alter  the  nature  of  man. 
The  fact  is  so ;  and  these  people  of  the  south- 
ern colonies  are  much  more  strongly,  and  with 
a  higher  and  more  stubborn  spirit,  attached  to 
liberty  than  those  to  the  northward.  Such  were 
all  the  ancient  commonwealths  ;  such  were  our 


CONCILIA  TION.  2 1 7 

Gothic  ancestors ;  such,  in  our  days,  were  the 
Poles,  and  such  will  be  all  masters  of  slaves,  who 
are  not  slaves  themselves.  In  such  a  people  the 
haughtiness  of  domination  combines  with  the 
spirit  of  freedom,  fortifies  it,  and  renders  it  in- 
vincible. 

Permit  me,  sir,  to  add  another  circumstance 
in  our  colonies,  which  contributes  no  mean  part 
toward  the  growth  and  effect  of  this  untractable 
spirit — I  mean  their  education.  In  no  country 
perhaps  in  the  world  is  the  law  so  general  a 
study.  The  profession  itself  is  numerous  and 
powerful ;  and  in  most  provinces  it  takes  the 
lead.  The  greater  number  of  the  deputies  sent 
to  Congress  were  lawyers.  But  all  who  read, 
and  most  do  read,  endeavor  to  obtain  some 
smattering  in  that  science.  I  have  been  told 
by  an  eminent  bookseller,  that  in  no  branch  of 
his  business,  after  tracts  of  popular  devotion, 
were  so  many  books  as  those  on  the  law  ex- 
ported to  the  Plantations.  The  colonists  have 
now  fallen  into  the  way  of  printing  them  for 
their  own  use.  I  hear  that  they  have  sold  near- 
ly as  many  of  Blackstone's  Commentaries  in 
America  as  in  England.  General  Gage  marks 
out  this  disposition  very  particularly  in  a  letter 
on  your  table.  He  states  that  all  the  people 


218  MR.   BURKE. 

in  his  government  are  lawyers,  or  smatterers  in 
law ;  and  that  in  Boston  they  have  been  ena- 
bled, by  successful  chicane,54  wholly  to  evade 
many  parts  of  one  of  your  capital  penal  consti- 
tutions. The  smartness  of  debate  will  say  that 
this  knowledge  ought  to  teach  them  more  clearly 
the  rights  of  legislature,  their  obligations  to 
obedience,  and  the  penalties  of  rebellion.  All 
this  is  mighty  well.  But  my  honorable  and 
learned  friend  [the  Attorney-General,  afterward 
Lord  Thurlow]  on  the  floor,  who  condescends  to 
mark  what  I  say  for  animadversion,  will  disdain 
that  ground.  He  has  heard,  as  well  as  I,  that 
when  great  honors  and  great  emoluments  do 
not  win  over  this  knowledge  to  the  service  of 
the  State,  it  is  a  formidable  adversary  to  gov- 
ernment. If  the  spirit  be  not  tamed  and  broken 
by  these  happy  methods,  it  is  stubborn  and 
litigious.  Abeunt  studia  in  mores.  This  study 
renders  men  acute,  inquisitive,  dexterous, 
prompt  in  attack,  ready  in  defence,  full  of  re- 
sources. In  other  countries,  the  people,  more 
simple  and  of  a  less  mercurial  cast,  judge  of 
an  ill  principle  in  government  only  by  an  actual 
grievance.  Here  they  anticipate  the  evil,  and 
judge  of  the  pressure  of  the  grievance  by  the 
badness  of  the  principle.  They  augur  misgov- 


CONCILIA  TION.  2 1 9 

eminent  at  a  distance  ;  and  snuff  the  approach 
of  tyranny  in  every  tainted  breeze. 

The  last  cause  of  this  disobedient  spirit  in 
the  colonies  is  hardly  less  powerful  than  the 
rest,  as  it  is  not  merely  moral,  but  laid  deep  in 
the  natural  constitution  of  things.  Three  thou- 
sand miles  of  ocean  lie  between  you  and  them. 
No  contrivance  can  prevent  the  effect  of  this 
distance  in  weakening  government.  Seas  roll 
and  months  pass  between  the  order  and  the  ex- 
ecution ;  and  the  want  of  a  speedy  explanation 
of  a  single  point  is  enough  to  defeat  the  whole 
system.  You  have,  indeed,  "  winged  ministers  " 
of  vengeance,  who  carry  your  bolts  in  their 
pouches  to  the  remotest  verge  of  the  sea. 5  5  But 
there  a  power  steps  in  that  limits  the  arrogance 
of  raging  passion  and  furious  elements,  and 
says :  "  So  far  shalt  thou  go,  and  no  farther." 
Who  are  you,  that  should  fret  and  rage,  and 
bite  the  chains  of  nature  ?  Nothing  worse  hap- 
pens to  you  than  does  to  all  nations  who  have 
extensive  empire  ;  and  it  happens  in  all  the 
forms  into  which  empire  can  be  thrown.  In 
large  bodies  the  circulation  of  power  must  be 
less  vigorous  at  the  extremities.  Nature  has 
said  it.  The  Turk  cannot  govern  Egypt,  and 
Arabia,  and  Koordistan  as  he  governs  Thrace  ; 


220  MR.   BURKE. 

nor  has  he  the  same  dominion  in  Crimea  and 
Algiers  which  he  has  at  Broosa  and  Smyrna. 
Despotism  itself  is  obliged  to  truck  and  huck- 
ster. The  Sultan  gets  such  obedience  as  he 
can.  He  governs  with  a  loose  rein,  that  he  may 
govern  at  all ;  and  the  whole  of  the  force  and 
vigor  of  his  authority  in  his  centre  is  derived 
from  a  prudent  relaxation  in  all  his  borders. 
Spain,  in  her  provinces,  is,  perhaps,  not  so  well 
obeyed  as  you  are  in  yours.  She  complies  too  ; 
she  submits;  she  watches  times.  This  is  the 
immutable  condition,  the  eternal  law,  of  exten- 
sive and  detached  empire. 

Then,  sir,  from  these  six  capital  sources  of 
descent,  of  form  of  government,  of  religion  in 
the  northern  provinces,  of  manners  in  the  south- 
ern, of  education,  of  the  remoteness  of  situation 
from  the  first  mover  of  government — from  all 
these  causes  a  fierce  spirit  of  liberty  has  grown 
up.  It  has  grown  with  the  growth  of  the 
people  in  your  colonies,  and  increased  with  the 
increase  of  their  wealth ;  a  spirit  that,  un- 
happily meeting  with  an  exercise  of  power  in 
England,  which,  however  lawful,  is  not  reconcif- 
able  to  any  ideas  of  liberty,  much  less  with 
theirs,  has  kindled  this  flame,  that  is  ready  to 
consume  us. 


CONCILIA  TION.  22 1 

I  do  not  mean  to  commend  either  the  spirit 
in  this  excess,  or  the  moral  causes  which  pro- 
duce it.  Perhaps  a  more  smooth  and  accomo- 
dating  spirit  of  freedom  in  them  would  be 
more  acceptable  to  us.  Perhaps  ideas  of  lib- 
erty might  be  desired,  more  reconcilable  with 
an  arbitrary  and  boundless  authority.  Perhaps 
we  might  wish  the  colonists  to  be  persuaded 
that  their  liberty  is  more  secure  when  held  in 
trust  for  them  by  us,  as  guardians  during  a  per- 
petual minority,  than  with  any  part  of  it  in 
their  own  hands.  But  the  question  is  not 
whether  their  spirit  deserves  praise  or  blame. 
What,  in  the  name  of  God,  shall  we  do  with  it? 
You  have  before  you  the  object,  such  as  it 
is,  with  all  its  glories,  with  all  its  imperfections 
on  its  head.  You  see  the  magnitude,  the  im- 
portance, the  temper,  the  habits,  the  disorders. 
By  all  these  considerations  we  are  strongly 
urged  to  determine  something  concerning  it. 
We  are  called  upon  to  fix  some  rule  and  line 
for  our  future  conduct,  which  may  give  a  little 
stability  to  our  politics,  and  prevent  the  return 
of  such  unhappy  deliberations  as  the  present. 
Every  such  return  will  bring  the  matter  before 
us  in  a  still  more  untractable  form.  For,  what 
astonishing  and  incredible  things  have  we  not 


222  MR.   BURKE. 

seen  already  ?  What  monsters  have  not  been 
generated  from  this  unnatural  contention  ? 
While  every  principle  of  authority  and  re- 
sistance has  been  pushed  upon  both  sides,  as 
far  as  it  would  go,  there  is  nothing  so  solid 
and  certain,  either  in  reasoning  or  in  practice, 
that  it  has  not  been  shaken.  Until  very  lately, 
all  authority  in  America  seemed  to  be  nothing 
but  an  emanation  from  yours.  Even  the  popu- 
lar part  of  the  colony  constitution  derived  all 
its  activity,  and  its  first  vital  movement,  from 
the  pleasure  of  the  Crown.  We  thought,  sir, 
that  the  utmost  which  the  discontented  colo- 
nists could  do,  was  to  disturb  authority.  We 
never  dreamed  they  could  of  themselves  supply 
it,  knowing  in  general  what  an  operose  business 
it  is  to  establish  a  government  absolutely  new. 
But  having,  for  our  purposes  in  this  contention, 
resolved  that  none  but  an  obedient  assembly 
should  sit,  the  humors  of  the  people  there,  find- 
ing all  passage  through  the  legal  channel 
stopped,  with  great  violence  broke  out  another 
way.  Some  provinces  have  tried  their  experi- 
ment, as  we  have  tried  ours ;  and  theirs  has 
succeeded.  They  have  formed  a  government 
sufficient  for  its  purposes,  without  the  bustle  of 
a  revolution,  or  the  troublesome  formality  of 


CONCILIATION.  22$ 

an  election.  Evident  necessity  and  tacit  con- 
sent have  done  the  business  in  an  instant.  So 
well  they  have  done  it,  that  Lord  Dunmore  (the 
account  is  among  the  fragments  on  your  table) 
tells  you,  that  the  new  institution  is  infinitely 
better  obeyed  than  the  ancient  government 
ever  was  in  its  most  fortunate  periods.  Obe- 
dience is  what  makes  government,  and  not  the 
names  by  which  it  is  called ;  not  the  name 
of  governor,  as  formerly,  or  committee,  as  at 
present.  This  new  government  has  originated 
directly  from  the  people,  and  was  hot  trans- 
mitted through  any  of  the  ordinary  artificial 
media  of  a  positive  constitution.  It  was  not  a 
manufacture  ready  formed,  and  transmitted  to 
them  in  that  condition  from  England.  The 
evil  arising  from  hence  is  this :  that  the  colo- 
nists having  once  found  the  possibility  of  enjoy- 
ing the  advantages  of  order  in  the  midst  of 
a  struggle  for  liberty,  such  struggles  will  not 
henceforward  seem  so  terrible  to  the  settled 
and  sober  part  of  mankind  as  they  had  ap- 
peared before  the  trial. 

Pursuing  the  same  plan  of  punishing  by  the 
denial  of  the  exercise  of  government  to  still 
greater  lengths,  we  wholly  abrogated  the  an- 
cient government  of  Massachusetts.  We  were 


224  MR-    BURKE. 

confident  that  the  first  feeling,  if  not  the  very- 
prospect  of  anarchy,  would  instantly  enforce 
a  complete  submission.  The  experiment  was 
tried.  A  new,  strange,  unexpected  face  of 
things  appeared.  Anarchy  is  found  tolerable. 
A  vast  province  has  now  subsisted,  and  subsist- 
ed in  a  considerable  degree  of  health  and  vig- 
or, for  near  a  twelvemonth,  without  governor, 
without  public  council,  without  judges,  without 
executive  magistrates.  How  long  it  will  con- 
tinue in  this  state,  or  what  may  arise  out  of 
this  unheard-of  situation,  how  can  the  wisest  of 
us  conjecture?  Our  late  experience  has  taught 
us,  that  many  of  those  fundamental  principles, 
formerly  believed  infallible,  are  either  not  of  the 
importance  they  were  imagined  to  be,  or  that 
we  have  not  at  all  adverted  to  some  other  far 
more  important  and  far  more  powerful  princi- 
ples, which  entirely  overrule  those  we  had  con- 
sidered as  omnipotent.  I  am  much  against  any 
farther  experiments,  which  tend  to  put  to  the 
proof  any  more  of  these  allowed  opinions, 
which  contribute  so  much  to  the  public  tran- 
quillity. In  effect,  we  suffer  as  much  at  home 
by  this  loosening  of  all  ties,  and  this  concussion 
of  all  established  opinions,  as  we  do  abroad. 
For,  in  order  to  prove  that  the  Americans  have 


CONCILIA  TION.  22$ 

no  right  to  their  liberties,  we  are  every  day  en- 
deavoring to  subvert  the  maxims  which  pre- 
serve the  whole  spirit  of  our  own.  To  prove 
that  the  Americans  ought  not  to  be  free,  we  are 
obliged  to  depreciate  the  value  of  freedom  it- 
self; and  we  never  seem  to  gain  a  paltry  ad- 
vantage over  them  in  debate,  without  attacking 
some  of  those  principles,  or  deriding  some  of 
those  feelings,  for  which  our  ancestors  have 
shed  their  blood. 

But,  sir,  in  wishing  to  put  an  end  to  perni- 
cious experiments,  I  do  not  mean  to  preclude 
the  fullest  inquiry.  Far  from  it.  Far  from  de- 
ciding on  a  sudden  or  partial  view,  I  would  pa- 
tiently go  round  and  round  the  subject,  and  sur- 
vey it  minutely  in  every  possible  aspect.  Sir,  if 
I  were  capable  of  engaging  you  to  an  equal  at- 
tention, I  would  state  that,  as  far  as  I  am  capable 
of  discerning,  there  are  but  three  ways  of  pro- 
ceeding relative  to  this  stubborn  spirit  which 
prevails  in  your  colonies  and  disturbs  your  gov- 
ernment. These  are,  to  change  that  spirit,  as 
inconvenient,  by  removing  the  causes  ;  to  prose- 
cute it  as  criminal ;  or  to  comply  with  it  as  nec- 
essary. I  would  not  be  guilty  of  an  imperfect 
enumeration.  I  can  think  of  but  these  three. 
Another  has,  indeed,  been  started — that  of 


226  MR.   BURKE. 

giving  up  the  colonies ;  but  it  met  so  slight  a 
reception,  that  I  do  not  think  myself  obliged 
to  dwell  a  great  while  upon  it.  It  is  nothing 
but  a  little  sally  of  anger,  like  the  frowardness 
of  peevish  children,  who,  when  they  cannot 
get  all  they  would  have,  are  resolved  to  take 
nothing. 

The  first  of  these  plans,  to  change  the  spirit, 
as  inconvenient,  by  removing  the  causes,  I 
think  is  the  most  like  a  systematic  proceeding. 
It  is  radical  in  its  principle,  but  it  is  attended 
with  great  difficulties,  some  of  them  little  short, 
as  I  conceive,  of  impossibilities.  This  will 
appear  by  examining  into  the  plans  which  have 
been  proposed. 

As  the  growing  population  of  the  colonies  is 
evidently  one  cause  of  their  resistance,  it  was 
last  session  mentioned  in  both  Houses  by  men  of 
weight,  and  received,  not  without  applause,  that, 
in  order  to  check  this  evil,  it  would  be  proper  for 
the  Crown  to  make  no  farther  grants  of  land. 
But  to  this  scheme  there  are  two  objections. 
The  first,  that  there  is  already  so  much  unsettled 
land  in  private  hands  as  to  afford  room  for  an 
immense  future  population,  although  the  Crown 
not  only  withheld  its  grants,  but  annihilated 
its  soil.  If  this  be  the  case,  then  the  only  effect 


CONCILIA  TION.  22? 

of  this  avarice  of  desolation,  this  hoarding  of  a 
royal  wilderness,  would  be  to  raise  the  value  of 
the  possessions  in  the  hands  of  the  great  private 
monopolists  without  any  adequate  check  to  the 
growing  and  alarming  mischief  of  population. 
But  if  you  stopped  your  grants,  what  would 
be  the  consequence?  The  people  would  occupy 
without  grants.  They  have  already  so  occu- 
pied in  many  places.  You  cannot  station  gar- 
risons in  every  part  of  these  deserts.  If  you 
drive  the  people  from  one  place,  they  will  carry 
on  their  annual  tillage,  and  remove  with  their 
flocks  and  herds  to  another.  Many  of  the 
people  in  the  back  settlements  are  already  little 
attached  to  particular  situations.  Already  they 
have  topped  the  Apalachian  Mountains.86 
From  thence  they  behold  before  them  an  im- 
mense plain,  one  vast,  rich,  level  meadow — a 
square  of  five  hundred  miles.  Over  this  they 
would  wander  without  a  possibility  of  restraint. 
They  would  change  their  manners  with  the  habits 
of  their  life  ;  would  soon  forget  a  government 
by  which  they  were  disowned;  would- become 
hordes  of  English  Tartars  ;  and,  pouring  down 
upon  your  unfortified  frontiers  a  fierce  and  irre- 
sistible cavalry,  become  masters  of  your  gov- 
ernors and  your  counsellors,  your  collectors  and 


228  MR.   BURKE. 

controllers,  and  of  all  the  slaves  that  adhered  to 
them.  Such  would,  and,  in  no  long  time, 
must  be  the  effect  of  attempting  to  forbid  as  a 
crime,  and  to  suppress  as  an  evil,  the  command 
and  blessing  of  Providence,  "  Increase  and 
multiply."  Such  would  be  the  happy  result  of 
an  endeavor  to  keep  as  a  lair  of  wild  beasts 
that  earth  which  God  by  an  express  charter 
has  given  to  the  children  of  men.  Far  different, 
and  surely  much  wiser,  has  been  our  policy 
hitherto.  Hitherto  we  have  invited  our  people, 
by  every  kind  of  bounty,  to  fixed  establish- 
ments. We  have  invited  the  husbandman  to 
look  to  authority  for  his  title.  We  have  taught 
him  piously  to  believe  in  the  mysterious  virtue 
of  wax  and  parchment.  We  have  thrown  each 
tract  of  land,  as  it  was  peopled,  into  districts, 
that  the  ruling  power  should  never  be  wholly 
out  of  sight.  We  have  settled  all  we  could, 
and  we  have  carefully  attended  every  settle- 
ment with  government. 

Adhering,  sir,  as  I  do,  to  this  policy,  as  well 
as  for  the  reasons  I  have  just  given,  I  think  this 
new  project  of  hedging  in  population  to  be 
neither  prudent  nor  practicable. 

To  impoverish  the  colonies  in  general,  and 
in  particular  to  arrest  the  noble  course  of  their 


CONCILIA  TION. 


marine  enterprises,  would  be  a  more  easy  task. 
I  freely  confess  it.  We  have  shown  a  disposi- 
tion to  a  system  of  this  kind  ;  a  disposition  even 
to  continue  the  restraint  after  the  offence,  look- 
ing on  ourselves  as  rivals  to  our  colonies,  and 
persuaded  that  of  course  we  must  gain  all  that 
they  shall  lose.  Much  mischief  we  may 
certainly  do.  The  power  inadequate  to  all 
other  things  is  often  more  than  sufficient  for 
this.  I  do  not  look  on  the  direct  and  imme- 
diate power  of  the  colonies  to  resist  our  violence 
as  very  formidable.  In  this,  however,  I  may 
be  mistaken.  But  when  I  consider  that  we 
have  colonies  for  no  purpose  but  to  be  service- 
able to  us,  it  seems  to  my  poor  understanding 
a  little  preposterous  to  make  them  unservice- 
able in  order  to  keep  them  obedient.  It  is,  in 
truth,  nothing  more  than  the  old,  and,  as  I 
thought,  exploded  problem  of  tyranny,  which 
proposes  to  beggar  its  subject  into  submission. 
But,  remember,  when  you  have  completed  your 
system  of  impoverishment,  that  nature  still  pro- 
ceeds in  her  ordinary  course ;  that  discontent 
will  increase  with  misery  ;  and  that  there  are 
critical  moments  in  the  fortunes  of  all  states, 
when  they  who  are  too  weak  to  contribute  to 
your  prosperity  may  be  strong  enough  to  com- 


230  MR.   BURKE. 

plete  your  ruin.  "  Spoliatis  arma  supersunt" 
The  temper  and  character  which  prevail  in 
our  colonies  are,  I  am  afraid,  unalterable  by  any 
human  art.  We  cannot,  I  fear,  falsify  the  pedi- 
gree of  this  fierce  people,  and  persuade  them 
that  they  are  not  sprung  from  a  nation  in  whose 
veins  the  blood  of  freedom  circulates.  The  lan- 
guage in  which  they  would  hear  you  tell  them 
this  tale  would  detect  the  imposition.  Your 
speech  would  betray  you.  An  Englishman  is 
the  unfittest  person  on  earth  to  argue  another 
Englishman  into  slavery. 

I  think  it  is  nearly  as  little  in  our  power  to 
change  their  republican  religion  as  their  free 
descent ;  or  to  substitute  the  Roman  Catholic 
as  a  penalty,  or  the  Church  of  England  as  an 
improvement.  The  mode  of  inquisition  and 
dragooning  is  going  out  of  fashion  in  the  old 
world,  and  I  should  not  confide  much  to  their 
efficacy  in  the  new.  The  education  of  the 
Americans  is  also  on  the  same  unalterable  bot- 
tom with  their  religion.  You  cannot  persuade 
them  to  burn  their  books  of  curious  science  ;  to 
banish  their  lawyers  from  their  courts  of  law ; 
or  to  quench  the  lights  of  their  assemblies,  by 
refusing  to  choose  those  persons  who  are  best 
read  in  their  privileges.  It  would  be  no  less 


CONCILIA  TIOX.  231 

impracticable  to  think  of  wholly  annihilating 
the  popular  assemblies  in  which  these  lawyers 
sit.  The  army,  by  which  we  must  govern  in 
their  place,  would  be  far  more  chargeable  to  us; 
not  quite  so  effectual ;  and  perhaps,  in  the  end, 
full  as  difficult  to  be  kept  in  obedience. 

With  regard  to  the  high  aristocratic  spirit  of 
Virginia  and  the  southern  colonies,  it  has  been 
proposed,  I  know,  to  reduce  it,  by  declaring  a 
general  enfranchisement  of  their  slaves.  This 
project  has  had  its  advocates  and  panegyrists, 
yet  I  never  could  argue  myself  into  an  opinion 
of  it.  Slaves  are  often  much  attached  to  their 
masters.  A  general  wild  offer  of  liberty  would 
not  always  be  accepted.  History  furnishes  few 
instances  of  it.  It  is  sometimes  as  hard  to  per- 
suade slaves  to  be  free  as  it  is  to  compel  free- 
men to  be  slaves  ;  and  in  this  auspicious  scheme 
we  should  have  both  these  pleasing  tasks  on 
our  hands  at  once.  But  when  we  talk  of  en- 
franchisement, do  we  not  perceive  that  the 
American  master  may  enfranchise  too,  and  arm 
servile  hands  in  defence  of  freedom  ?  A  meas- 
ure to  which  other  people  have  had  recourse 
more  than  once,  and  not  without  success,  in  a 
desperate  situation  of  their  affairs. 

Slaves  as  these  unfortunate  black  people  are, 


232  MR.    BURKE. 

and  dull  as  all  men  are  from  slavery,  must  they 
not  a  little  suspect  the  offer  of  freedom  from 
that  very  nation  which  has  sold  them  to  their 
present  masters  ?  From  that  nation,  one  of 
whose  causes  of  quarrel  with  those  masters  is 
their  refusal  to  deal  any  more  in  that  inhuman 
traffic  ?  An  offer  of  freedom  from  England 
would  come  rather  oddly,  shipped  to  them  in 
an  African  vessel,  which  is  refused  an  entry  into 
the  ports  of  Virginia  or  Carolina,  with  a  cargo 
of  three  hundred  Angola  negroes.  It  would  be 
curious  to  see  the  Guinea  captain  attempt  at 
the  same  instant  to  publish  his  proclamation  of 
liberty  and  to  advertise  the  sale  of  slaves. 

But  let  us  suppose  all  these  moral  difficulties 
got  over.  The  ocean  remains.  You  cannot 
pump  this  dry ;  and  as  long  as  it  continues  in 
its  present  bed,  so  long  all  the  causes  which 
weaken  authority  by  distance  will  continue. 

"Ye  gods  !  annihilate  but  space  and  time, 
And  make  two  lovers  happy  !  " 

was  a  pious  and  passionate  prayer,  but  just  as 
reasonable  as  many  of  these  serious  wishes  of 
very  grave  and  solemn  politicians. 

If,  then,  sir,  it  seems  almost  desperate  to 
think  of  any  alterative  course  for  changing  the 


CONCILIA  TION.  233 

moral  causes  (and  not  quite  easy  to  remove  the 
natural)  which  produce  the  prejudices  irrecon- 
cilable to  the  late  exercise  of  our  authority,  but 
that  the  spirit  infallibly  will  continue,  and,  con- 
tinuing, will  produce  such  effects  as  now  em- 
barrass us,  the  second  mode  under  consideration 
is  to  prosecute  that  spirit  in  its  overt  acts  as 
criminal. 

At  this  proposition  I  must  pause  a  moment. 
The  thing  seems  a  great  deal  too  big  for  my 
ideas  of  jurisprudence.  It  should  seem,  to  my 
way  of  conceiving  such  matters,  that  there  is  a 
very  wide  difference  in  reason  and  policy 
between  the  mode  of  proceeding  on  the 
irregular  conduct  of  scattered  individuals,  or 
even  of  bands  of  men,  who  disturb  order  within 
the  state,  and  the  civil  dissensions  which  may, 
from  time  to  time,  on  great  questions,  agitate 
the  several  communities  which  compose  a  great 
empire.  It  looks  to  me  to  be  narrow  and  pe- 
dantic to  apply  the  ordinary  ideas  of  criminal 
justice  so  this  great  public  contest.  I  do  not 
know  the  method  of  drawing  up  an  indictment 
against  a  whole  people.  I  cannot  insult  and 
ridicule  the  feelings  of  millions  of  my  fellow- 
creatures,  as  Sir  Edward  Coke  insulted  one  ex- 
cellent individual  at  the  bar.61  I  am  not  ripe  to 


234  MR.   BURKE. 

pass  sentence  on  the  gravest  public  bodies,  in- 
trusted with  magistracies  of  great  authority 
and  dignity,  and  charged  with  the  safety  of 
their  fellow-citizens,  upon  the  very  same  title 
that  I  am.  I  really  think  that,  for  wise  men, 
this  is  not  judicious  ;  for  sober  men,  not  de- 
cent ;  for  minds  tinctured  with  humanity, 
not  mild  and  merciful. 

Perhaps,  sir,  I  am  mistaken  in  my  idea  of 
an  empire,  as  distinguished  from  a  single  state 
or  kingdom.  But  my  idea  of  it  is  this  ;  that  an 
empire  is  the  aggregate  of  many  states,  under 
one  common  head,  whether  this  head  be  a 
monarch  or  a  presiding  republic.  It  does, 
in  such  constitutions,  frequently  happen  (and 
nothing  but  the  dismal,  cold,  dead  uniformity 
of  servitude  can  prevent  its  happening)  that 
the  subordinate  parts  have  many  local  privi- 
leges and  immunities.  Between  these  privi- 
leges and  the  supreme  common  authority,  the 
line  may  be  extremely  nice.  Of  course,  dis- 
putes— often,  too,  very  bitter  disputes,  and 
much  ill  blood,  will  arise.  But,  though  every 
privilege  is  an  exemption,  in  the  case,  from  the 
ordinary  exercise  of  the  supreme  authority,  it 
is  no  denial  of  it.  The  claim  of  a  privilege 
seems  rather,  ex  vi  termini,  to  imply  a  superior 


CONCILIA  TION.  235 

power ;  for  to  talk  of  the  privileges  of  a  state 
or  of  a  person  who  has  no  superior,  is  hardly 
any  better  than  speaking  nonsense.  Now,  in 
such  unfortunate  quarrels  among  the  compo- 
nent parts  of  a  great  political  union  of  commu- 
nities, I  can  scarcely  conceive  any  thing  more 
completely  imprudent  than  for  the  head  of  the 
empire  to  insist  that,  if  any  privilege  is  pleaded 
against  his  will  or  his  acts,  that  his  whole  au- 
thority is  denied;  instantly  to  proclaim  rebellion, 
to  beat  to  arms,  and  to  put  the  offending  prov- 
inces under  the  ban.  Will  not  this,  sir,  very 
soon  teach  the  provinces  to  make  no  distinc- 
tions on  their  part  ?  Will  it  not  teach  them 
that  the  government  against  which  a  claim  of 
liberty  is  tantamount  to  high  treason,  is  a  gov- 
ernment to  which  submission  is  equivalent  to 
slavery?  It  may  not  always  be  quite  con- 
venient to  impress  dependent  communities 
with  such  an  idea. 

We  are,  indeed,  in  all  disputes  with  the  colo- 
nies, by  the  necessity  of  things,  the  judge.  It 
is  true  sir ;  but  I  confess  that  the  character  of 
judge  in  my  own  cause  is  a  thing  that  frightens 
me.  Instead  of  filling  me  with  pride,  I  am  ex- 
ceedingly humbled  by  it.  I  cannot  proceed 
with  a  stern,  assured,  judicial  confidence,  until 


236  MR.    BURKE. 

I  find  myself  m  something  more  like  a  judicial 
character.  I  must  have  these  hesitations  as 
long  as  I  am  compelled  to  recollect  that,  in  my 
little  reading  upon  such  contests  as  these,  the 
sense  of  mankind  has  at  least  as  often  decided 
against  the  superior  as  the  subordinate  power. 
Sir,  let  me  add,  too,  that  the  opinion  of  my  hav- 
ing some  abstract  right  in  my  favor  would  not 
put  me  much  at  my  ease  in  passing  sentence,  un- 
less I  could  be  sure  that  there  were  no  rights 
which  in  their  exercise  under  certain  circum- 
stances, were  not  the  most  odious  of  all  wrongs, 
and  the  most  vexatious  of  all  injustice.  Sir, 
these  considerations  have  great  weight  with 
me,  when  I  find  things  so  circumstanced  that  I 
see  the  same  party  at  once  a  civil  litigant 
against  me  in  point  of  right  and  a  culprit  be- 
fore me  ;  while  I  sit  as  criminal  judge  on  acts 
of  his  whose  moral  quality  is  to  be  decided  on 
upon  the  merits  of  that  very  litigation.  Men 
are  every  now  and  then  put,  by  the  complexity 
of  human  affairs,  into  strange  situations ;  but 
justice  is  the  same,  let  the  judge  be  in  what 
situation  he  will. 

There  is,  sir,  also  a  circumstance  which  con- 
vinces me  that  this  mode  of  criminal  proceed- 
ing is  not,  at  least  in  the  present  stage  of  our 


CONCILIA  TION.  237 

contest,  altogether  expedient,  which  is  nothing 
less  than  the  conduct  of  those  very  persons 
who  have  seemed  to  adopt  that  mode,  by  lately 
declaring  a  rebellion  in  Massachusetts  Bay,  as 
they  had  formerly  addressed  to  have  traitors 
brought  hither,  under  an  act  of  Henry  the 
Eighth,  for  trial.  For,  though  rebellion  is  de- 
clared, it  is  not  proceeded  against  as  such ;  nor 
have  any  steps  been  taken  toward  the  appre- 
hension or  conviction  of  any  individual  offender, 
either  on  our  late  or  our  former  address ;  but 
modes  of  public  coercion  have  been  adopted, 
and  such  as  have  much  more  resemblance  to  a 
sort  of  qualified  hostility  toward  an  independent 
power  than  the  punishment  of  rebellious  sub- 
jects. All  this  seems  rather  inconsistent ;  but 
it  shows  how  difficult  it  is  to  apply  these  juri- 
dical ideas  to  our  present  case. 

In  this  situation,  let  us  seriously  and  coolly 
ponder.  What  is  it  we  have  got  by  all  our 
menaces,  which  have  been  many  and  ferocious? 
What  advantage  have  we  derived  from  the 
penal  laws  we  have  passed,  and  which,  for  the 
time,  have  been  severe  and  numerous?  What 
advances  have  we  made  toward  our  object  by 
the  sending  of  a  force  which,  by  land  and  sea, 
is  no  contemptible  strength  ?  Has  the  disorder 


238  MR.    BURKE. 

abated  ?  Nothing  less.  When  I  see  things  in 
this  situation,  after  such  confident  hopes,  bold 
promises,  and  active  exertions,  I  cannot,  for 
my  life,  avoid  a  suspicion  that  the  plan  itself  is 
not  correctly  right. 

If,  then,  the  removal  of  the  causes  of  this 
spirit  of  American  liberty  be,  for  the  greater 
part,  or  rather  entirely,  impracticable ;  if  the 
ideas  of  criminal  process  be  inapplicable,  or,  if 
applicable,  are  in  the  highest  degree  inex- 
pedient, what  way  yet  remains?  No  way  is 
open  but  the  third  and  last — to  comply  with 
the  American  spirit  as  necessary,  or,  if  you 
please,  to  submit  to  it  as  a  necessary  evil. 

If  we  adopt  this  mode,  if  we  mean  to  concili- 
ate and  concede,  let  us  see,  of  what  nature  the 
concessions  ought  to  be.  To  ascertain  the  nature 
of  our  concession,  we  must  look  at  their  com- 
plaint. The  colonies  complain  that  they  have 
not  the  characteristic  mark  and  seal  of  British 
freedom.  They  complain  that  they  are  taxed 
in  Parliament  in  which  they  are  not  repre- 
sented. If  you  mean  to  satisfy  them  at  all, 
you  must  satisfy  them  with  regard  to  this  com- 
plaint. If  you  mean  to  please  any  people,  you 
must  give  them  the  boon  which  they  ask ;  not 
what  you  may  think  better  for  them,  but  of  a 


CONCILIA  TION.  239 

kind  totally  different.  Such  an  act  may  be  a 
wise  regulation,  but  it  is  no  concession,  whereas 
our  present  theme  is  the  mode  of  giving  satis- 
faction. 

Sir,  I  think  you  must  perceive  that  I  am 
resolved  this  day  to  have  nothing  at  all  to  do 
with  the  question  of  the  right  of  taxation. 
Some  gentlemen  startle,  but  it  is  true.  I  put 
it  totally  out  of  the  question.  It  is  less  than 
nothing  in  my  consideration.  I  do  not,  indeed, 
wonder,  nor  will  you,  sir,  that  gentlemen  of 
profound  learning  are  fond  of  displaying  it  on 
this  profound  subject.  But  my  consideration 
is  narrow,  confined,  and  wholly  limited  to  the 
policy  of  the  question.  I  do  not  examine 
whether  the  giving  away  a  man's  money  be  a 
power  excepted  and  reserved  out  of  the  general 
trust  of  government,  and  how  far  all  mankind, 
in  all  forms  of  polity,  are  entitled  to  an  exer- 
cise of  that  right  by  the  charter  of  nature ;  or 
whether,  on  the  contrary,  a  right  of  taxation  is 
necessarily  involved  in  the  general  principle  of 
legislation,  and  inseparable  from  the  ordinary 
supreme  power.  These  are  deep  questions, 
where  great  names  militate  against  each  other ; 
where  reason  is  perplexed ;  and  an  appeal  to 
authorities  only  thickens  the  confusion ;  for 


240  MR.   BURKE. 

high  and  reverend  authorities  lift  up  their  heads 
on  both  sides,  and  there  is  no  sure  footing  in 
the  middle.  The  point  is 

That  Serbonian  bog 

Betwixt  Damieta  and  Mount  Cassius  old, 
Where  armies  whole  have  sunk. B  8 

I  do  not  intend  to  be  overwhelmed  in  this  bog, 
though  in  such  respectable  company.  The 
question  with  me  is,  not  whether  you  have  a 
right  to  render  your  people  miserable,  but 
whether  it  is  not  your  interest  to  make  them 
happy.  It  is  not  what  a  lawyer  tells  me  I  may 
do,  but  what  humanity,  reason,  and  justice  tell 
me  I  ought  to  do.  Is  a  politic  act  the  worse  for 
being  a  generous  one?  Is  no  concession 
proper  but  that  which  is  made  from  your  want 
of  right  to  keep  what  you  grant  ?  Or  does  it 
lessen  the  grace  or  dignity  of  relaxing  in  the 
exercise  of  an  odious  claim,  because  you  have 
your  evidence-room  full  of  titles,  and  your 
magazines  stuffed  with  arms  to  enforce  them? 
What  signify  all  those  titles  and  all  those  arms? 
Of  what  avail  are  they,  when  the  reason  of  the 
thing  tells  me  that  the  assertion  of  my  title  is 
the  loss  of  my  suit,  and  that  I  could  do  noth- 
ing but  wound  myself  by  the  use  of  my  own 
weapons?59 


CONCILIATION.  24! 

Such  is  steadfastly  my  opinion  of  the  abso- 
lute necessity  of  keeping  up  the  concord  of  this 
empire  by  a  unity  of  spirit,  though  in  a  diver- 
sity of  operations,  that,  if  I  were  sure  the 
colonists  had,  at  their  leaving  this  country, 
sealed  a  regular  compact  of  servitude ;  that 
they  had  solemnly  abjured  all  the  rights  of 
citizens  ;  that  they  had  made  a  vow  to  renounce 
all  ideas  of  liberty  for  them  and  their  prosterity 
to  all  generations,  yet  I  should  hold  myself 
obliged  to  conform  to  the  temper  I  found  uni- 
versally prevalent  in  my  own  day,  and  to  govern 
two  millions  of  men,  impatient  of  servitude,  on 
the  principles  of  freedom.  I  am  not  determin- 
ing a  point  of  law.  I  am  restoring  tranquillity, 
and  the  general  character  and  situation  of  a 
people  must  determine  what  sort  of  govern- 
ment is  fitted  for  them.  That  point  nothing 
else  can  or  ought  to  determine. 

My  idea,  therefore,  without  considering 
whether  we  yield  as  matter  of  right,  or  grant 
as  matter  of  favor,  is  to  admit  tlie  people  of  our 
colonies  into  an  interest  in  the  Constitution,  and, 
by  recording  that  admission  in  the  journals  of 
Parliament,  to  give  them  as  strong  an  assur- 
ance as  the  nature  of  the  thing  will  admit,  that 
we  mean  forever  to  adhere  to  that  solemn  de- 
claration of  systematic  indulgence. 


242  MR.   BURKE. 

Some  years  ago,  the  repeal  of  a  revenue  act, 
upon  its  understood  principle,  might  have 
served  to  show  that  we  intended  an  uncondi- 
tional abatement  of  the  exercise  of  a  taxing 
power.  Such  a  measure  was  then  sufficient  to 
remove  all  suspicion,  and  to  give  perfect 
content.  But  unfortunate  events,  since  that 
time,  may  make  something  farther  necessary, 
and  not  more  necessary  for  the  satisfaction  of 
the  colonies,  than  for  the  dignity  and  consis- 
tency of  our  own  future  proceedings. 

I  have  taken  a  very  incorrect  measure  of  the 
disposition  of  the  House,  if  this  proposal  in  it- 
self would  be  received  with  dislike.  I  think, 
sir,  we  have  few  American  financiers.  But  our 
misfortune  is,  we  are  too  acute  ;  we  are  too  ex- 
quisite in  our  conjectures  of  the  future,  for  men 
oppressed  with  such  great  and  present  evils. 
The  more  moderate  among  the  opposers  of 
parliamentary  concessions  freely  confess  that 
they  hope  no  good  from  taxation,  but  they  ap- 
prehend the  colonists  have  farther  views,  and,  if 
this  point  were  conceded,  they  would  instantly 
attack  the  Trade  Laws.  These  gentlemen  are 
convinced  that  this  was  the  intention  from  the 
beginning,  and  the  quarrel  of  the  Americans 
with  taxation  was  no  more  than  a  cloak  and 


CONCILIA  TION.  243 

cover  to  this  design.  Such  has  been  the  lan- 
guage even  of  a  gentleman  [Mr.  Rice]  of  real 
moderation,  and  of  a  natural  temper  well  ad- 
justed to  fair  and  equal  government.  I  am, 
however,  sir,  not  a  little  surprised  at  this  kind 
of  discourse,  whenever  I  hear  it ;  and  I  am  the 
more  surprised,  on  account  of  the  arguments 
which  I  constantly  find  in  company  with  it,  and 
which  are  often  urged  from  the  same  mouths 
and  on  the  same  day. 

For  instance,  when  we  allege  that  it  is  against 
reason  to  tax  a  people  under  so  many  restraints 
in  trade  as  the  Americans,  the  noble  lord  in 
the  blue  ribbon  shall  tell  you  that  the  restraints 
on  trade  are  futile  and  useless ;  of  no  advan- 
tage to  us,  and  of  no  burden  to  those  on  whom 
they  are  imposed  ;  that  the  trade  of  America  is 
not  secured  by  the  acts  of  navigation,  but  by 
the  natural  and  irresistible  advantage  of  a  com- 
mercial preference. 

Such  is  the  merit  of  the  trade  laws  in  this 
posture  of  the  debate.  But  when  strong  in- 
ternal circumstances  are  urged  against  the 
taxes ;  when  the  scheme  is  dissected ;  when 
experience  and  the  nature  of  things  are  brought 
to  prove,  and  do  prove,  the  utter  impossibility 
of  obtaining  an  effective  revenue  from  the 


244  MR-   BURKE. 

colonies ;  when  these  things  are  pressed,  or 
rather  press  themselves,  so  as  to  drive  the  ad- 
vocates of  colony  taxes  to  a  clear  admission  of 
the  futility  of  the  scheme  ;  then,  sir,  the  sleep- 
ing trade  laws  revive  from  their  trance,  and  this 
useless  taxation  is  to  be  kept  sacred,  not  for  its 
own  sake,  but  as  a  counterguard  and  security 
of  the  laws  of  trade. 

Then,  sir,  you  keep  up  revenue  laws  which 
are  mischievous,  in  order  to  preserve  trade  laws 
that  are  useless.  Such  is  the  wisdom  of  our 
plan  in  both  its  members.  They  are  separately 
given  up  as  of  no  value,  and  yet  one  is  always 
to  be  defended  for  the  sake  of  the  other.  But  I 
cannot  agree  with  the  noble  lord,  nor  with 
the  pamphlet  from  whence  he  seems  to  have 
borrowed  these  ideas,  concerning  the  inutility 
of  the  trade  laws  6  °  ;  for,  without  idolizing  them, 
I  am  sure  they  are  still,  in  many  ways,  of  great 
use  to  us ;  and  in  former  times,  they  have  been 
of  the  greatest.  They  do  confine,  and  they  do 
greatly  narrow  the  market  for  the  Americans  ; 
but  my  perfect  conviction  of  this  does  not  help 
me  in  the  least  to  discern  how  the  revenue  laws 
form  any  security  whatsoever  to  the  commer- 
cial regulations,  or  that  these  commercial 
regulations  are  the  true  ground  of  the  quarrel, 


CONCILIA  7m  V.  245 

or  that  the  giving  way  in  any  one  instance  of 
authority  is  to  lose  all  that  may  remain  uncon- 
ceded. 

One  fact  is  clear  and  indisputable.  The  pub- 
lic and  avowed  origin  of  this  quarrel  was  on 
taxation.  This  quarrel  has,  indeed,  brought  on 
new  disputes  on  new  questions,  but  certainly 
the  least  bitter,  and  the  fewest  of  all,  on  the 
trade  laws.  To  judge  which  of  the  two  be  the 
real  radical  cause  of  quarrel,  we  have  to  see 
whether  the  commercial  dispute  did,  in  order 
of  time,  precede  the  dispute  on  taxation.  There 
is  not  a  shadow  of  evidence  for  it.  Next,  to 
enable  us  to  judge  whether  at  this  moment  a 
dislike  to  the  trade  laws  be  the  real  cause  of 
quarrel,  it  is  absolutely  necessary  to  put  the 
taxes  out  of  the  question  by  a  repeal.  See  how 
the  Americans  act  in  this  position,  and  then 
you  will  be  able  to  discern  correctly  what  is  the 
true  object  of  the  controversy,  or  whether  any 
controversy  at  all  will  remain.  Unless  you 
consent  to  remove  this  cause  of  difference,  it  is 
impossible,  with  decency,  to  assert  that  the  dis- 
pute is  not  upon  what  it  is  avowed  to  be.  And 
I  would,  sir,  recommend  to  your  serious  consid- 
eration, whether  it  be  prudent  to  form  a  rule  for 
punishing  people,  not  on  their  own  acts,  but  on 


246  MR.   BURKE. 

your  conjectures.  Surely  it  is  preposterous  at 
the  very  best.  It  is  not  justifying  your  anger 
by  their  misconduct,  but  it  is  converting  your 
ill  will  into  their  delinquency. 

But  the  colonies  will  go  farther.  Alas  !  alas! 
when  will  this  speculating  against  fact  and  rea- 
son end  ?  What  will  quiet  these  panic  fears 
which  we  entertain  of  the  hostile  effect  of  a 
conciliatory  conduct  ?  Is  it  true  that  no  case 
can  exist  in  which  it  is  proper  for  the  sovereign 
to  accede  to  the  desires  of  his  discontented  sub- 
jects? Is  there  any  thing  peculiar  in  this  case 
to  make  a  rule  for  itself  ?  Is  all  authority  of 
course  lost,  when  it  is  not  pushed  to  the  ex- 
treme ?  Is  it  a  certain  maxim,  that  the  fewer 
causes  of  dissatisfaction  are  left  by  government 
the  more  the  subject  will  be  inclined  to  resist 
and  rebel  ? 

All  these  objections  being,  in  fact,  no  more 
than  suspicions,  conjectures,  divinations,  formed 
in  defiance  of  fact  and  experience,  they  did  not, 
sir,  discourage  me  from  entertaining  the  idea  of 
a  conciliatory  concession,  founded  on  the  prin- 
ciples which  I  have  just  stated. 

In  forming  a  plan  for  this  purpose,  I  endeav- 
ored to  put  myself  in  that  frame  of  mind  which 
was  the  most  natural  and  the  most  reasonable, 


CONCILIA  TION.  247 

and  which  was  certainly  the  most  probable 
means  of  securing  me  from  all  error.  I  set  out 
with  a  perfect  distrust  of  my  own  abilities  ;  a 
total  renunciation  of  every  speculation  of  my 
own  ;  and  with  a  profound  reverence  for  the 
wisdom  of  our  ancestors,  who  have  left  us  the 
inheritance  of  so  happy  a  constitution  and  so 
flourishing  an  empire,  and,  v/hat  is  a  thousand 
times  more  valuable,  the  treasury  of  the  maxims 
and  principles  which  formed  the  one  and  ob- 
tained the  other. 

During  the  reigns  of  the  Kings  of  Spain  of  the 
Austrian  family,  whenever  they  were  at  a  loss 
in  the  Spanish  councils,  it  was  common  for  their 
statesmen  to  say,  that  they  ought  to  consult 
the  genius  of  Philip  the  Second.  The  genius 
of  Philip  the  Second  might  mislead  them  ;  and 
the  issue  of  their  affairs  showed  that  they  had 
not  chosen  the  most  perfect  standard.  But, 
sir,  I  am  sure  that  I  shall  not  be  misled,  when, 
in  a  case  of  constitutional  difficulty,  I  consult 
the  genius  of  the  English  Constitution.  Con- 
sulting at  that  oracle  (it  was  with  all  due  hu- 
mility and  piety),  I  found  four  capital  exam- 
ples in  a  similar  case  before  me  :  those  of  Ire- 
land, Wales,  Chester,  and  Durham. 

Ireland,  before  the  English  conquest,  though 


248  MR.   BURKE. 

never  governed  by  a  despotic  power,  had  no 
Parliament.  How  far  the  English  Parliament 
itself  was  at  that  time  modelled  according  to  the 
present  form,  is  disputed  among  antiquarians. 
But  we  have  all  the  reason  in  the  world  to  be 
assured,  that  a  form  of  Parliament,  such  as 
England  then  enjoyed,  she  instantly  communi- 
cated to  Ireland  ;  and  we  are  equally  sure  that 
almost  every  successive  improvement  in  consti- 
tutional liberty,  as  fast  as  it  was  made  here, 
was  transmitted  thither.  The  feudal  baronage 
and  the  feudal  knighthood,  the  roots  of  our 
primitive  constitution,  were  early  transplanted 
into  that  soil,  and  grew  and  flourished  there. 
Magna  Charta,  if  it  did  not  give  us  originally 
the  House  of  Commons,  gave  us,  at  least,  a 
House  of  Commons  of  weight  and  consequence. 
But  your  ancestors  did  not  churlishly  sit  down 
alone  to  the  feast  of  Magna  Charta.  Ireland 
was  made  immediately  a  partaker.  This  bene- 
fit of  English  laws  and  liberties,  I  confess,  was 
not  at  first  extended  to  all  Ireland.  Mark  the 
consequence.  English  authority  and  English 
liberty  had  exactly  the  same  boundaries.  Your 
standard  could  never  be  advanced  an  inch  be- 
fore your  privileges.61  Sir  John  Davis  shows 
beyond  a  doubt,  that  the  refusal  of  a  genera} 


CONCILIA  TION.  249 

communication  of  these  rights  was  the  true 
cause  why  Ireland  was  five  hundred  years  in 
subduing ;  and  after  the  vain  projects  of  a  mili- 
tary government,  attempted  in  the  reign  of 
Queen  Elizabeth,  it  was  soon  discovered  that 
nothing  could  make  that  country  English,  in 
civility  and  allegiance,  but  your  laws  and  your 
forms  of  legislature. 6  2  It  was  not  English  arms, 
but  the  English  Constitution,  that  conquered 
Ireland.  From  that  time,  Ireland  has  ever  had 
a  general  Parliament,  as  she  had  before  a  par- 
tial Parliament.  You  changed  the  people  ;  you 
altered  the  religion  ;  but  you  never  touched  the 
form  or  the  vital  substance  of  free  government 
in  that  kingdom.  You  deposed  kings ;  you 
restored  them  ;  you  altered  the  succession  to 
theirs,  as  well  as  to  your  own  crown  :  but  you 
never  altered  their  Constitution  ;  the  principle 
of  which  was  respected  by  usurpation  ;  restored 
with  the  restoration  of  monarchy,  and  estab- 
lished, I  trust,  forever,  by  the  glorious  revolu- 
tion. This  has  made  Ireland  the  great  and 
flourishing  kingdom  that  it  is;  and  from  a  dis- 
grace and  a  burden  intolerable  to  this  nation, 
has  rendered  her  a  principal  part  of  our  strength 
and  ornament.  This  country  cannot  be  said 
to  have  ever  formally  taxed  her.  The  irregular 


250  MR.   BURKE. 

things  done  in  the  confusion  of  mighty  troubles, 
and  on  the  hinge  of  great  revolutions,  even  if 
all  were  done  that  is  said  to  have  been  done, 
form  no  example.  If  they  have  any  effect  in 
argument,  they  make  an  exception  to  prove  the 
rule.  None  of  your  own  liberties  could  stand 
a  moment  if  the  casual  deviations  from  them, 
at  such  times,  were  suffered  to  be  used  as  proofs 
of  their  nullity.  By  the  lucrative  amount  of 
such  casual  breaches  in  the  Constitution,  judge 
what  the  stated  and  fixed  rule  of  supply  has 
been  in  that  kingdom.  Your  Irish  pensioners 
would  starve,  if  they  had  no  other  fund  to  live 
on  than  taxes  granted  by  English  authority. 
Turn  your  eyes  to  those  popular  grants  from 
whence  all  your  great  supplies  are  come,  and 
learn  to  respect  that  only  source  of  public 
wealth  in  the  British  empire. 

My  next  example  is  Wales.  This  country 
was  said  to  be  reduced  by  Henry  the  Third. 
It  was  said  more  truly  to  be  so  by  Edward  the 
First. 6  3  But  though  then  conquered,  it  was  not 
looked  upon  as  any  part  of  the  realm  of  Eng- 
land. Its  old  Constitution,  whatever  that  might 
have  been,  was  destroyed,  and  no  good  one 
was  substituted  in  its  place.  The  care  of  that 
tract  was  put  into  the  hands  of  Lords  Marchers 


CONCILIA  TION.  2  5  I 

— a  form  of  government  of  a  very  singular 
kind  ;  a  strange  heterogeneous  monster,  some- 
thing between  hostility  and  government ;  per- 
haps it  has  a  sort  of  resemblance,  according 
to  the  modes  of  those  times,  to  that  of  com- 
mander-in-chief  at  present,  to  whom  all  civil 
power  is  granted  as  secondary.  The  manners 
of  the  Welsh  nation  followed  the  genius  of 
the  government.  The  people  were  ferocious, 
restive,  savage,  and  uncultivated ;  sometimes 
composed,  never  pacified.  Wales,  within  itself, 
was  in  perpetual  disorder ;  and  it  kept  the  fron- 
tier of  England  in  perpetual  alarm.  Benefits 
from  it  to  the  State  there  were  none.  WTales 
was  only  known  to  England  by  incursion  and 
invasion. 

Sir,  during  that  state  of  things,  Parliament 
was  not  idle.  They  attempted  to  subdue  the 
fierce  spirit  of  the  Welsh  by  all  sorts  of  rigor- 
ous laws.  They  prohibited  by  statute  the 
sending  all  sorts  of  arms  into  Wales,  as  you 
prohibit  by  proclamation  (with  something  more 
of  doubt  on  the  legality)  the  sending  arms  to 
America.  They  disarmed  the  Welsh  by  statute, 
as  you  attempted  (but  still  with  more  question 
on  the  legality)  to  disarm  New  England  by  an 
instruction.  They  made  an  act  to  drag  offend- 


252  MR.    BURKE. 

ers  from  Wales  into  England  for  trial,  as  you 
have  done  (but  with  more  hardship)  with  re- 
gard to  America.  By  another  act,  where  one 
of  the  parties  was  an  Englishman,  they  ordained 
that  his  trial  should  be  always  by  English. 
They  made  acts  to  restrain  trade,  as  you  do  ; 
and  they  prevented  the  Welsh  from  the  use  of 
fairs  and  markets,  as  you  do  the  Americans 
from  fisheries  and  foreign  ports.  In  short, 
when  the  statute-book  was  not  quite  so  much 
swelled  as  it  is  now,  you  find  no  less  than  fif- 
teen acts  of  penal  regulation  on  the  subject  of 
Wales.64 

Here  we  rub  our  hands — a  fine  body  of  prec- 
edents for  the  authority  of  Parliament  and  the 
use  of  it — I  admit  it  fully ;  and  pray  add  like- 
wise to  these  precedents,  that  all  the  while 
Wales  rid  this  kingdom  like  an  incubus  ;  that  it 
was  an  unprofitable  and  oppressive  burden ; 
and  that  an  Englishman  travelling  in  that  coun- 
try could  not  go  six  yards  from  the  highroad 
without  being  murdered. 

The  march  of  the  human  mind  is  slow.  Sir, 
it  was  not  until  after  two  hundred  years  discov- 
ered that,  by  an  eternal  law,  Providence  had  de- 
creed vexation  to  violence,  and  poverty  to  ra- 
pine. Your  ancestors  did,  however,  at  length 


CONCILIA  TION.  253 

open  their  eyes  to  the  ill  husbandry  of  injustice. 
They  found  that  the  tyranny  of  a  free  people 
could  of  all  tyrannies  the  least  be  endured,  and 
that  laws  made  against  a  whole  nation  were  not 
the  most  effectual  methods  for  securing  its 
obedience.  Accordingly,  in  the  twenty-seventh 
year  of  Henry  VIII.,  the  course  was  entirely 
altered.  With  a  preamble  stating  the  entire 
and  perfect  rights  of  the  Crown  of  England,  it 
gave  to  the  Welsh  all  the  rights  and  privileges 
of  English  subjects.  A  political  order  was  es- 
tablished ;  the  military  power  gave  way  to  the 
civil ;  the  marches  were  turned  into  counties. 
But  that  a  nation  should  have  a  right  to  Eng- 
lish liberties,  and  yet  no  share  at  all  in  the  fun- 
damental security  of  these  liberties,  the  grant 
of  their  own  property,  seemed  a  thing  so  in- 
congruous, that,  eight  years  after,  that  is,  in  the 
thirty-fifth  of  that  reign,  a  complete  and  not 
ill-proportioned  representation  by  counties  and 
boroughs  was  bestowed  upon  Wales  by  act  of 
Parliament.  From  that  moment,  as  by  a  charm, 
the  tumults  subsided  ;  obedience  was  restored  ; 
peace,  order,  and  civilization  followed  in  the 
train  of  liberty.  When  the  day-star  of  the 
English  Constitution  had  arisen  in  their  hearts, 
all  was  harmony  within  and  without. 


254  MR-   BURKE. 

Simul  alba  nautis 

Stella  refulsit, 

Defluit  saxis  agitatus  humor: 
Concidunt  venti,  fugiuntque  nubes  ; 
Et  minax  (quod  sic  voluere)  ponto 

Unda  recumbit.65 

The  very  same  year  the  county  palatine  of 
Chester  received  the  same  relief  from  its  op- 
pressions and  the  same  remedy  to  its  disorders. 
Before  this  time  Chester  was  little  less  distem- 
pered than  Wales.  The  inhabitants,  without 
rights  themselves,  were  the  fittest  to  destroy 
the  rights  of  others ;  and  from  thence  Richard 
II.  drew  the  standing  army  of  archers  with 
which  for  a  time  he  oppressed  England.  The 
people  of  Chester  applied  to  Parliament  in  a 
petition  penned  as  I  shall  read  to  you : 

"To  the  King  our  sovereign  lord,  in  most  humble  wise 
shown  unto  your  excellent  Majesty,  the  inhabitants  of  your 
Grace's  county  palatine  of  Chester  ;  that  where  the  said  county 
palatine  of  Chester  is  and  hath  been  always  hitherto  exempt,  ex- 
cluded and  separated  out  and  from  your  high  court  of  Parlia- 
ment, to  have  any  knights  and  burgesses  within  the  said  court ; 
by  reason  whereof  the  said  inhabitants  have  hitherto  sustained 
manifold  disherisons,  losses,  and  damages,  as  well  in  their 
lands,  goods,  and  bodies,  as  in  the  good,  civil,  and  politic  gov- 
ernance and  maintenance  of  the  Commonwealth  of  their  said 
country.  (2)  And,  forasmuch  as  the  said  inhabitants  have 
always  hitherto  been  bound  by  the  acts  and  statutes  made  and 
ordained  by  your  said  highness  and  your  most  noble  progenitors, 


CONCILIA  TION.  255 

by  authority  of  the  said  court,  as  far  forth  as  other  counties, 
cities,  and  boroughs  have  been,  that  have  had  their  knights  and 
burgesses  within  your  said  court  of  Parliament,  and  yet  have 
had  neither  knight  nor  burgess  there  for  the  said  county  pala- 
tine ;  the  said  inhabitants,  for  lack  thereof,  have  been  often- 
times touched  and  grieved  with  acts  and  statutes  made  within 
the  said  court,  as  well  derogatory  unto  the  most  ancient  juris- 
dictions, liberties,  and  privileges  of  your  said  county  palatine, 
as  prejudicial  unto  the  Commonwealth,  quietness,  rest,  and 
peace  of  your  Grace's  most  bounden  subjects  inhabiting  within 
the  same." 

What  did  Parliament  with  this  audacious  ad- 
dress? Reject  it  as  a  libel?  Treat  it  as  an 
affront  to  government  ?  Spurn  it  as  a  deroga- 
tion from  the  rights  of  legislature  ?  Did  they 
toss  it  over  the  table?  Did  they  burn  it  by 
the  hands  of  the  common  hangman  ?  They 
took  the  petition  of  grievance,  all  rugged  as  it 
was,  without  softening  or  temperament,  un- 
purged  of  the  original  bitterness  and  indigna- 
tion of  complaint ;  they  made  it  the  very  pre- 
amble to  their  act  of  redress,  and  consecrated 
its  principle  to  all  ages  in  the  sanctuary  of  leg- 
islation. 

Here  is  my  third  example.  It  was  attended 
with  the  success  of  the  two  former.  Chester, 
civilized  as  well  as  Wales,  has  demonstrated 
that  freedom,  and  not  servitude,  is  the  cure  of 
anarchy,  as  religion,  and  not  atheism,  is  the 


256  MR.   BURKE. 

true  remedy  for  superstition.  Sir,  this  pattern 
of  Chester  was  followed  in  the  reign  of  Charles 
II.  with  regard  to  the  county  palatine  of  Dur- 
ham, which  is  my  fourth  example.  This  county 
had  long  lain  out  of  the  pale  of  free  legislation. 
So  scrupulously  was  the  example  of  Chester  fol- 
lowed, that  the  style  of  the  preamble  is  nearly 
the  same  with  that  of  the  Chester  act ;  and 
without  affecting  the  abstract  extent  of  the 
authority  of  Parliament,  it  recognizes  the  equity 
of  not  suffering  any  considerable  district  in 
which  the  British  subjects  may  act  as  a  body 
to  be  taxed  without  their  own  voice  in  the 
grant. 

Now,  if  the  doctrines  of  policy  contained  in 
these  preambles,  and  the  force  of  these  ex- 
amples in  the  acts  of  Parliament,  avail  anything, 
what  can  be  said  against  applying  them  with 
regard  to  America  ?  Are  not  the  people  of 
America  as  much  Englishmen  as  the  Welsh? 
The  preamble  of  the  act  of  Henry  VIII.  says, 
the  Welsh  speak  a  language  no  way  resembling 
that  of  his  Majesty's  English  subjects.  Are  the 
Americans  not  as  numerous?  If  we  may  trust 
the  learned  and  accurate  Judge  Barrington's 
account  of  North  Wales,  and  take  that  as  a 
standard  to  measure  the  rest,  there  is  no  com- 


CONCILIA  TION. 


parison.  The  people  cannot  amount  to  above 
200,000  ;  not  a  tenth  part  of  the  number  in  the 
colonies.  Is  America  in  rebellion  ?  Wales  was 
hardly  ever  free  from  it.  Have  you  attempted 
to  govern  America  by  penal  statutes?  You 
made  fifteen  for  Wales.  But  your  legislative 
authority  is  perfect  with  regard  to  America. 
Was  it  less  perfect  in  Wales,  Chester,  and  Dur- 
ham !  But  America  is  virtually  represented. 
What  !  does  the  electric  force  of  virtual  repre- 
sentation more  easily  pass  over  the  Atlantic 
than  pervade  Wales,  which  lies  in  your  neigh- 
borhood ;  or  than  Chester  and  Durham,  sur- 
rounded by  abundance  of  representation  that  is 
actual  and  palpable  ?  But,  sir,  your  ancestors 
thought  this  sort  of  virtual  representation,  how- 
ever ample,  to  be  totally  insufficient  for  the 
freedom  of  the  inhabitants  of  territories  that 
are  so  near,  and  comparatively  so  inconsiderable. 
How,  then,  can  I  think  it  sufficient  for  those 
which  are  infinitely  greater  and  infinitely  more 
remote  ? 

You  will  now,  sir,  perhaps  imagine  that  I  am 
on  the  point  of  proposing  to  you  a  scheme  for 
representation  of  the  colonies  in  Parliament. 
Perhaps  I  might  be  inclined  to  entertain  some 
such  thought,  but  a  great  flood  stops  me  in  my 


258  MR.    BURKE. 

course.  Opposuit  natura.  I  cannot  remove 
the  eternal  barriers  of  the  creation.  The  thing 
in  that  mode  I  do  not  know  to  be  possible.  As 
I  meddle  with  no  theory,  I  do  not  absolutely 
assert  the  impracticability  of  such  a  representa- 
tion ;  but  I  do  not  see  my  way  to  it ;  and  those 
who  have  been  more  confident  have  not  been 
more  successful.  However,  the  arm  of  public 
benevolence  is  not  shortened,  and  there  are 
often  several  means  to  the  same  end.  What 
nature  has  disjoined  in  one  way  wisdom  may 
unite  in  another.  When  we  cannot  give  the 
benefit  as  we  would  wish,  let  us  not  refuse  it 
altogether.  If  we  cannot  give  the  principal, 
let  us  find  a  substitute.  But  how?  Where? 
What  substitute? 

Fortunately  I  am  not  obliged  for  the  ways 
and  means  of  this  substitute  to  tax  my  own 
unproductive  invention.  I  am  not  even  obliged 
to  go  to  the  rich  treasury  of  the  fertile  framers 
of  imaginary  commonwealths ;  not  to  the  Re- 
public of  Plato,  not  to  the  Utopia  of  More,  not 
to  the  Oceana  of  Harrington.  It  is  before  me. 
It  is  at  my  feet. 

And  the  dull  swain 
Treads  daily  on  it  with  his  clouted  shoon.60 

I  only  wish  you  to  recognize,  for  the  theory,  the 


CONCILIA  TION.  259 

ancient  constitutional  policy  of  this  kingdom 
with  regard  to  representation,  as  that  policy  has 
been  declared  in  acts  of  Parliament ;  and,  as  to 
the  practice,  to  return  to  that  mode  which  a  uni- 
form experience  has  marked  out  to  you  as  best, 
and  in  which  you  walked  with  security,  advan- 
tage, and  honor,  until  the  year  1763. 

My  resolutions,  therefore,  mean  to  establish 
the  equity  and  justice  of  a  taxation  of  America, 
by  grant  and  not  by  imposition.  To  mark  the 
legal  competency  of  the  colony  assemblies  for 
the  support  of  their  government  in  peace,  and 
for  public  aids  in  time  of  war.  To  acknowl- 
edge that  this  legal  competency  has  had  a  duti- 
ful and  beneficial  exercise  ;  and  that  experience 
has  shown  the  benefit  of  their  grants,  and  the 
futility  of  parliamentary  taxation  as  a  method  of 
supply. 

These  solid  truths  compose  six  fundamental 
propositions.  There  are  three  more  resolutions 
corollary  to  these.  If  you  admit  the  first  set, 
you  can  hardly  reject  the  others.  But  if  you 
admit  the  first,  I  shall  be  far  from  solicitous 
whether  you  accept  or  refuse  the  last.  I  think 
these  six  massive  pillars  will  be  of  strength 
sufficient  to  support  the  temple  of  British  con- 
cord. I  have  no  more  doubt  than  I  entertain 


260  MR.   BURKE. 

of  my  existence,  that,  if  you  admitted  these, 
you  would  command  an  immediate  peace  ;  and, 
with  but  tolerable  future  management,  a  lasting 
obedience  in  America.  I  am  not  arrogant  in 
this  confident  assurance.  The  propositions  are 
all  mere  matters  of  fact ;  and  if  they  are  such 
facts  as  draw  irresistible  conclusions  even  in  the 
stating,  this  is  the  power  of  truth,  and  not  any 
management  of  mine. 

Sir,  I  shall  open  the  whole  plan  to  you 
together,  with  such  observations  on  the  motions 
as  may  tend  to  illustrate  them  where  they  may 
want  explanation.  The  first  is  a  resolution  : 

"That  the  colonies  and  plantations  of  Great  Britain  in 
North  America,  consisting  of  fourteen  separate  governments, 
and  containing  two  millions  and  upward  of  free  inhabitants, 
have  not  had  the  liberty  and  privilege  of  electing  and  sending 
any  knights  and  burgesses  or  others  to  represent  them  in  the 
high  court  of  Parliament." 

This  is  a  plain  matter  of  fact,  necessary  to  be 
laid  down,  and  (excepting  the  description)  it  is 
laid  down  in  the  language  of  the  Constitution  : 
it  is  taken  nearly  verbatim  from  acts  of  Parlia- 
ment. 

The  second  is  like  unto  the  first : 

"That  the  said  colonies  and  plantations  have  been  liable 
to  and  bounden  by  several  subsidies,  payments,  rates,  and  taxes, 


CONCILIATION.  26 1 

given  and  granted  by  Parliament,  though  the  said  colonies  and 
plantations  have  not  their  knights  and  burgesses  in  the  said 
high  court  of  Parliament,  of  their  own  election,  to  represent 
the  condition  of  their  country  ;  by  lack  whereof  they  have 
been  oftentimes  touched  and  grieved  by  subsidies  given, 
granted,  and  assented  to,  in  said  court,  in  a  manner  prejudicial 
to  the  commonwealth,  quietness,  rest,  and  peace  of  the  sub- 
jects inhabiting  within  the  same." 

Is  this  description  too  hot  or  too  cold,  too 
strong  or  too  weak  ?  Does  it  arrogate  too 
much  to  the  supreme  Legislature  ?  Does  it 
lean  too  much  to  the  claims  of  the  people  ?  If 
it  runs  into  any  of  these  errors,  the  fault  is  not 
mine.  It  is  the  language  of  your  own  ancient 
acts  of  Parliament. 

Nee  meus  hie  sermo  est  sed  quse  prsecipit  Ofellus 
Rusticus,  abnormis  sapiens.'7 

It  is  the  genuine  produce  of  the  ancient,  rustic, 
manly,  home-bred  sense  of  this  country.  I  did 
not  dare  to  rub  off  a  particle  of  the  venerable 
rust  that  rather  adorns  and  preserves,  than  de- 
stroys the  metal.  It  would  be  a  profanation  to 
touch  with  a  tool  the  stones  which  construct 
the  sacred  altar  of  peace. 6B  I  would  not  violate 
with  modern  polish  the  ingenuous  and  noble 
roughness  of  these  truly  constitutional  materials. 
Above  all  things,  I  was  resolved  not  to  be  guilty 
of  tampering,  the  odious  vice  of  restless  and  un- 


262  MR.   BURKE. 

stable  minds.  I  put  my  foot  in  the  tracks  of  our 
forefathers,  where  I  can  neither  wander  nor 
stumble.  Determining  to  fix  articles  of  peace, 
I  was  resolved  not  to  be  wise  beyond  what  was 
written ;  I  was  resolved  to  use  nothing  else  than 
the  form  of  sound  words,  to  let  others  abound 
in  their  own  sense,  and  carefully  to  abstain 
from  all  expressions  of  my  own.  What  the  law 
has  said,  I  say.  In  all  things  else  I  am  silent. 
I  have  no  organ  but  for  her  words.  This,  if  it 
be  not  ingenious,  I  am  sure,  is  safe. 

There  are,  indeed,  words  expressive  of  griev- 
ance in  this  second  resolution,  which  those  who 
are  resolved  always  to  be  in  the  right  will  deny 
to  contain  matter  of  fact,  as  applied  to  the  pres- 
ent case,  although  Parliament  thought  them  true 
with  regard  to  the  counties  of  Chester  and  Dur- 
ham. They  will  deny  that  the  Americans  were 
ever  "touched  and  grieved"  with  the  taxes.  If 
they  considered  nothing  in  taxes  but  their  weight 
as  pecuniary  impositions,  there  might  be  some 
pretence  for  this  denial.  But  men  may  be  sorely 
touched  and  deeply  grieved  in  their  privileges  as 
well  as  in  their  purses.  Men  may  lose  little  in 
property  by  the  act  which  takes  away  all  their 
freedom.  When  a  man  is  robbed  of  a  trifle  on 
the  highway,  it  is  not  the  twopence  lost  that  con- 


CONCILIA  TION.  263 

stitutes  the  capital  outrage.  This  is  not  con- 
fined to  privileges.  Even  ancient  indulgences 
withdrawn,  without  offence  on  the  part  of  those 
who  enjoy  such  favors,  operate  as  grievances. 
But  were  the  Americans  then  not  touched  and 
grieved  by  the  taxes,  in  some  measure  merely 
as  taxes  ?  If  so,  why  were  they  almost  all  either 
wholly  repealed  or  exceedingly  reduced  ?  Were 
they  not  touched  and  grieved,  even  by  the  regu- 
lating duties  of  the  sixth  of  George  II.?  Else 
why  were  the  duties  first  reduced  to  one  third 
in  1764,  and  afterward  to  a  third  of  that  third 
in  the  year  1766?  Were  they  not  touched  and 
grieved  by  the  Stamp  Act  ?  I  shall  say  they 
were,  until  that  tax  is  revived.  Were  they  not 
touched  and  grieved  by  the  duties  of  1767,  which 
were  likewise  repealed,  and  which  Lord  Hills- 
borough  tells  you,  for  the  ministry,  were  laid  con- 
trary to  the  true  principle  of  commerce  ?  Is  not 
the  assurance  given  by  that  noble  person  to  the 
colonies  of  a  resolution  to  lay  no  more  taxes  on 
them,  an  admission  that  taxes  would  touch  and 
grieve  them  ?  Is  not  the  resolution  of  the  noble 
lord  in  the  blue  ribbon,  now  standing  on  your 
journals,  the  strongest  of  all  proofs  that  Parlia- 
mentary subsidies  really  touched  and  grieved 
them  ?  Else  why  all  these  changes,  modifica- 
tions, repeals,  assurances,  and  resolutions? 


264  MR.   BURKE. 

The  next  proposition  is : 

1 '  That,  from  the  distance  of  the  said  colonies,  and  from 
other  circumstances,  no  method  hath  hitherto  been  devised  for 
procuring  a  representation  in  Parliament  for  the  said  colonies." 

This  is  an  assertion  of  a  fact.  I  go  no  farther 
on  the  paper;  though  in  my  private  judgment,  a 
useful  representation  is  impossible ;  I  am  sure 
it  is  not  desired  by  them,  nor  ought  it,  perhaps, 
by  us,  but  I  abstain  from  opinions. 

The  fourth  resolution  is : 

"  That  each  of  the  said  colonies  hath  within  itself  a  body 
chosen  in  part  or  in  the  whole,  by  the  freemen,  freeholders, 
or  other  free  inhabitance  thereof,  commonly  called  the  General 
Assembly,  or  General  Court,  with  powers  legally  to  raise,  levy, 
and  assess,  according  to  the  several  usages  of  such  colonies, 
duties  and  taxes  toward  the  defraying  all  sorts  of  public  ser- 


This  competence  in  the  colony  assemblies  is 
certain.  It  is  proved  by  the  whole  tenor  of  their 
acts  of  supply  in  all  the  assemblies,  in  which  the 
constant  style  of  granting  is,  "  an  aid  to.  his  Maj- 
esty ";  and  acts  granting  to  the  Crown  have  reg- 
ularly for  near  a  century  passed  the  public  offices 
without  dispute.  Those  who  have  been  pleased 
parodoxically  to  deny  this  right,  holding  that 
none  but  the  British  Parliament  can  grant  to  the 
Crown,  are  wished  to  look  to  what  is  done,  not 


CONCILIA  TION.  26$ 

only  in  the  colonies,  but  in  Ireland,  in  one  uni- 
form, unbroken  tenor  every  session.6* 

Sir,  I  am  surprised  that  this  doctrine  should 
come  from  some  of  the  law  servants  of  the 
Crown.  I  say  that  if  the  Crown  could  be  re- 
sponsible, his  Majesty — but  certainly  the  min- 
isters, and  even  these  law  officers  themselves, 
through  whose  hands  the  acts  pass  biennially 
in  Ireland,  or  annually  the  colonies,  are  in  a 
habitual  course  of  committing  impeachable 
offences.  What  habitual  offenders  have  been  all 
presidents  of  the  council,  all  secretaries  of  state, 
all  first  lords  of  trade,  all  attorneys,  and  all  solic- 
itors-general !  However,  they  are  safe,  as  no 
one  impeaches  them ;  and  there  is  no  ground 
of  charge  against  them,  except  in  their  own 
unfounded  theories. 

The  fifth  resolution  is  also  a  resolution  of 
fact: 

"That  the  said  General  Assemblies,  General  Courts,  or 
other  bodies  legally  qualified  as  aforesaid,  have  at  sundry 
times  freely  granted  several  large  subsidies  and  public  aids  for 
his  Majesty's  service,  according  to  their  abilities,  when  re- 
quired thereto  by  letter  from  one  of  his  Majesty's  principal 
secretaries  of  State.  And  that  their  right  to  grant  the  same, 
and  their  cheerfulness  and  sufficiency  in  the  said  grants,  have 
been  at  sundry  times  acknowledged  by  Parliament." 

To  say  nothing  of  their  great  expenses  in  the 


266  MR.   BURKE, 

Indian  wars ;  and  not  to  take  their  exertion  in 
foreign  ones,  so  high  as  the  supplies  in  the  year 
1695,  not  to  go  back  to  their  public  contribu- 
tions in  the  year  1710,  I  shall  begin  to  travel 
only  where  the  journals  give  me  light ;  resolv- 
ing to  deal  in  nothing  but  fact  authenticated 
by  parliamentary  record,  and  to  build  myself 
wholly  on  that  solid  basis. 

On  the  4th  of  April,  1748,  a  committee  of 
this  House  came  to  the  following  resolution : 

"  Resolved,  That  it  is  the  opinion  of  this  committee,  that  it 
is  just  and  reasonable  that  the  several  provinces  and  colonies  of 
Massachusetts  Bay,  New  Hampshire,  Connecticut,  and  Rhode 
Island,  be  reimbursed  the  expenses  they  have  been  at  in  taking 
and  securing  to  the  Crown  of  Great  Britain  the  Island  of  Cape 
Breton  and  its  dependencies." 

These  expenses  were  immense  for  such  colo- 
nies. They  were  above  ^200,000  sterling  ; 
money  first  raised  and  advanced  on  their  public 
credit. 

On  the  28th  of  January,  1756,  a  message  from 
the  King  came  to  us  to  this  effect : 

"His  Majesty  being  sensible  of  the  zeal  and  vigor  with 
which  his  faithful  subjects  of  certain  colonies  in  North  Amer- 
ica have  exerted  themselves  in  defence  of  his  Majesty's  just 
rights  and  possessions,  recommends  it  to  this  House  to  take 
the  same  into  their  consideration,  and  to  enable  his  Majesty  to 
give  them  such  assistance  as  may  be  a  proper  reward  and  en- 
couragement" 


CONCILIA  TION.  267 

On  the  3d  of  February,  1756,  the  House  came 
to  a  suitable  resolution,  expressed  in  words 
nearly  the  same  as  those  of  the  message ;  but 
with  the  farther  addition,  that  the  money  then 
voted  was  an  encouragement  to  the  colonies  to 
exert  themselves  with  vigor.  It  will  not  be 
necessary  to  go  through  all  the  testimonies 
which  your  own  records  have  given  to  the  truth 
of  my  resolutions.  I  will  only  refer  you  to  the 
places  in  the  journals  :  Vol.  xxvii.,  i6th  and 
I9th  May,  1757;  vol.  xxviii.,  June  1st,  1758 
— April  26th  and  3<Dth,  1759 — March  26th  and 
3ist,  and  April  28th,  1760 — January  Qth  and 
2Oth,  1761 ;  vol.  xxix.,  January  22d  and  26th, 
1762 — March  I4th  and  I7th,  1763. 

Sir,  here  is  the  repeated  acknowledgment  of 
Parliament,  that  the  colonies  not  only  gave,  but 
gave  to  satiety.  This  nation  has  formally  ac- 
knowledged two  things :  first,  that  the  colonies 
had  gone  beyond  their  abilities,  Parliament  hav- 
ing thought  it  necessary  to  reimburse  them  ;  sec- 
ondly, that  they  had  acted  legally  and  laudably  in 
their  grants  of  money,  and  their  maintenance  of 
troops,  since  the  compensation  is  expressly  given 
as  reward  and  encouragement.  Reward  is  not 
bestowed  for  acts  that  are  unlawful ;  and  en- 
couragement is  not  held  out  to  things  that  de- 


268  MR.   BURKE. 

serve  reprehension.  My  resolution,  therefore, 
does  nothing  more  than  collect  into  one  propo- 
sition what  is  scattered  through  your  journals. 
I  give  you  nothing  but  your  own,  and  you  can- 
not refuse  in  the  gross  what  you  have  so  often 
acknowledged  in  detail.  The  admission  of  this, 
which  will  be  so  honorable  to  them  and  to  you, 
will,  indeed,  be  mortal  to  all  the  miserable 
stories  by  which  the  passions  of  the  misguided 
people  have  been  engaged  in  an  unhappy  sys- 
tem. The  people  heard,  indeed,  from  the  be- 
ginning of  these  disputes,  one  thing  continually 
dinned  in  their  ears,  that  reason  and  justice  de- 
manded that  the  Americans,  who  paid  no  taxes, 
should  be  compelled  to  contribute.  How  did 
that  fact  of  their  paying  nothing  stand  when 
the  taxing  system  began?  When  Mr.  Gren- 
ville  began  to  form  his  system  of  American 
revenue,  he  stated  in  this  House  that  the  col- 
onies were  then  in  debt  two  million  six  hun- 
dred thousand  pounds  sterling  money,  and  was 
of  opinion  they  would  discharge  that  debt  in 
fouryears.  On  this  state,  those  untaxed  people 
were  actually  subject  to  the  payment  of  taxes 
to  the  amount  of  six  hundred  and  fifty  thousand 
a  year.  In  fact,  however,  Mr.  Grenville  was 
mistaken.  The  funds  given  for  sinking  the 


CONCILIA  TION.  269 

debt  did  not  prove  quite  so  ample  as  both  the 
colonies  and  he  expected.  The  calculation  was 
too  sanguine  :  the  reduction  was  not  completed 
till  some  years  after,  and  at  different  times  in 
different  colonies.  However,  the  taxes  after 
the  war  continued  too  great  to  bear  any  addi- 
tion, with  prudence  or  propriety ;  and  when 
the  burdens  imposed  in  consequence  of  former 
requisitions  were  discharged,  our  tone  became 
too  high  to  resort  again  to  requisition.  No 
colony,  since  that  time,  ever  has  had  any  requisi- 
tion whatsoever  made  to  it. 

We  see  the  sense  of  the  Crown,  and  the 
sense  of  Parliament,  on  the  productive  nature 
of  a  revenue  by  grant.  Now  search  the  same 
journals  for  the  produce  of  the  revenue  by  impo- 
sition. Where  is  it  ?  Let  us  know  the  volume 
and  the  page.  What  is  the  gross,  what  is  the 
net  produce  ?  To  what  service  is  it  applied  ? 
How  have  you  appropriated  its  surplus  ?  What, 
can  none  of  the  many  skilful  index-makers  that 
we  are  now  employing,  find  any  trace  of  it  ? 
Well,  let  them  and  that  rest  together.  But, 
are  the  journals,  which  say  nothing  of  the  rev- 
enue, as  silent  on  the  discontent?  Oh,  no!  a 
child  may  find  it.  It  is  the  melancholy  burden 
and  blot  of  every  page. 


2/0  MR.   BURKE. 

I  think,  then,  I  am,  from  those  journals, 
justified  in  the  sixth  and  last  resolution, 
which  is : 

"  That  it  hath  been  found  by  experience  that  the  manner  of 
granting  the  said  supplies  and  aids,  by  the  said  general  assem- 
blies, hath  been  more  agreeable  to  the  said  colonies,  and  more 
beneficial  and  conducive  to  the  public  service,  than  the  mode 
of  giving  and  granting  aids  in  Parliament,  to  be  raised  and 
paid  in  the  said  colonies." 

This  makes  the  whole  of  the  fundamental 
part  of  the  plan.  The  conclusion  is  irresist- 
ible. You  cannot  say  that  you  were  driven  by 
any  necessity  to  an  exercise  of  the  utmost 
rights  of  legislature.  You  cannot  assert  that 
you  took  on  yourselves  the  task  of  imposing 
colony  taxes,  from  the  want  of  another  legal 
body,  that  is  competent  to  the  purpose  of  sup- 
plying the  exigencies  of  the  State  without 
wounding  the  prejudices  of  the  people.  Neither 
is  it  true  that  the  body  so  qualified,  and  having 
that  competence,  had  neglected  the  duty. 

The  question  now  on  all  this  accumulated 
matter,  is — whether  you  will  choose  to  abide  by 
a  profitable  experience,  or  a  mischievous  theory ; 
whether  you  choose  to  build  on  imagination  or 
fact ;  whether  you  prefer  enjoyment  or  hope ; 
satisfaction  in  your  subjects  or  discontent  ? 


CONCILIATION.  2/1 

If  these  propositions  are  accepted,  every- 
thing which  has  been  made  to  enforce  a  con- 
trary system  must,  I  take  it  for  granted,  fall 
along  with  it.  On  that  ground  I  have  drawn 
the  following  resolution,  which,  when  it  comes 
to  be  moved,  will  naturally  be  divided  in  a 
proper  manner  : 

"  That  it  may  be  proper  to  repeal  an  act,  made  in  the 
seventh  year  of  the  reign  of  his  present  Majesty,  entitled  An 
Act  for  granting  certain  duties  in  the  British  colonies  and  plan- 
tations in  America  ;  for  allowing  a  drawback  of  the  duties  of 
customs  upon  the  exportation  from  this  kingdom  of  coffee  and 
cocoa-nuts  of  the  produce  of  the  said  colonies  or  plantations  ; 
for  discontinuing  the  drawbacks  payable  on  China  earthen- 
ware exported  to  America,  and  for  more  effectually  preventing 
the  clandestine  running  of  goods  in  the  said  colonies  and 
plantations  ;  and  that  it  may  be  proper  to  repeal  an  act,  made 
in  the  fourteenth  year  of  the  reign  of  his  present  Majesty,  en- 
titled, An  Act  to  discontinue,  in  such  manner,  and  for  such 
time  as  are  therein  mentioned,  the  landing  and  discharging, 
lading,  or  shipping,  of  goods,  wares,  and  merchandise,  at  the 
town  and  within  the  harbor  of  Boston,  in  the  province  of 
Massachusetts  Bay,  in  North  America  ;  and  that  it  may  be 
proper  to  repeal  an  act,  made  in  the  fourteenth  year  of  the 
reign  of  his  present  Majesty,  entitled,  An  Act  for  the  impartial 
administration  of  justice  in  the  cases  of  persons  questioned 
for  any  acts  done  by  them  in  the  execution  of  the  law,  or  for 
the  suppression  of  riots  and  tumults  in  the  province  of  Massa- 
chusetts Bay,  in  New  England  ;  and  that  it  may  be  proper  to 
repeal  an  act,  made  in  the  fourteenth  year  of  the  reign  of  his 
present  Majesty,  entitled,  An  Act  for  the  better  regulating  the 


2/2  MR.   BURKE. 

government  of  the  province  of  Massachusetts  Bay,  in  New 
England  ;  and  also,  that  it  may  be  proper  to  explain  and 
amend  an  act,  made  in  the  thirty-fifth  year  of  the  reign  of 
King  Henry  the  Eighth,  entitled,  An  Act  for  the  trial  of  trea- 
sons committed  out  of  the  King's  dominions." 

I  wish,  sir,  to  repeal  the  Boston  Port  Bill,  be- 
cause (independently  of  the  dangerous  prece- 
dent of  suspending  the  rights  of  the  subject 
during  the  King's  pleasure)  it  was  passed,  as  I 
apprehend,  with  less  regularity,  and  on  more 
partial  principles,  than  it  ought.  The  corpora- 
tion of  Boston  was  not  heard  before  it  was  con- 
demned. Other  towns,  full  as  guilty  as  she  was, 
have  not  had  their  ports  blocked  up.  Even  the 
restraining  bill  of  the  present  session  does  not 
go  to  the  length  of  the  Boston  Port  Act.  The 
same  ideas  of  prudence  which  induced  you  not 
to  extend  equal  punishment  to  equal  guilt, 
even  when  you  were  punishing,  induce  me,  who 
mean  not  to  chastise,  but  to  reconcile,  to  be  sat- 
isfied with  the  punishment  already  partially  in- 
flicted. 

Ideas  of  prudence,  and  accommodation  to 
circumstances,  prevent  you  from  taking  away 
the  charters  of  Connecticut  and  Rhode  Island, 
as  you  have  taken  away  that  of  Massachusetts 
Colony,  though  the  Crown  has  far  less  power 
in  the  two  former  provinces  than  it  enjoyed  in 


CONCILIA  TION. 


the  latter  ;  and  though  the  abuses  have  been  full 
as  great  and  as  flagrant  in  the  exempted  as  in  the 
punished.  The  same  reasons  of  prudence  and 
accommodation  have  weight  with  me  in  restor- 
ing the  charter  of  Massachusetts  Bay.  Besides, 
sir,  the  act  which  changes  the  charter  of  Massa- 
chusetts is  in  many  particulars  so  exceptionable, 
that  if  I  did  not  wish  absolutely  to  repeal,  I 
would  by  all  means  desire  to  alter  it,  as  several 
of  its  provisions  tend  to  the  subversion  of  all 
public  and  private  justice.  Such,  among  others, 
is  the  power  in  the  Governor  to  change  the 
Sheriff  at  his  pleasure,  and  to  make  a  new  re- 
turning officer  for  every  special  cause.  It  is 
shameful  to  behold  such  a  regulation  standing 
among  English  laws. 

The  act  for  bringing  persons  accused  of  com- 
mitting murder  under  the  orders  of  government 
to  England  for  trial,  is  but  temporary.  That 
act  has  calculated  the  probable  duration  of  our 
quarrel  with  the  colonies,  and  is  accommodated 
to  that  supposed  duration.  I  would  hasten  the 
happy  moment  of  reconciliation,  and  therefore 
must,  on  my  principle,  get  rid  of  that  most 
justly  obnoxious  act. 

The  act  of  Henry  the  Eighth,  for  the  trial  of 
treasons,  I  do  not  mean  to  take  away,  but  to 


274  MR-   BURKE. 

confine  it  to  its  proper  bounds  and  original  in- 
tention ;  to  make  it  expressly  for  trial  of 
treasons  (and  the  greatest  treasons  may  be 
committed)  in  places  where  the  jurisdiction  of 
the  Crown  does  not  extend. 

Having  guarded  the  privileges  of  local  legis- 
lature, I  would  next  secure  to  the  colonies 
a  fair  and  unbiased  judicature  ;  for  which  pur- 
pose, sir,  I  propose  the  following  resolution  : 

"That,  from  the  time  when  the  General  Assembly  or  Gen- 
eral Court  of  any  colony  or  plantation  in  North  America,  shall 
have  appointed  by  act  of  assembly,  duly  confirmed,  a  settled 
salary  to  the  offices  of  the  Chief  Justice  and  other  judges 
of  the  Superior  Court,  it  may  be  proper  that  the  said  Chief 
Justice  and  other  judges  of  the  Superior  Courts  of  such  colony, 
shall  hold  his  and  their  office  and  offices  during  their  good 
behavior,  and  shall  not  be  removed  therefrom,  but  when  the 
said  removal  shall  be  adjudged  by  his  Majesty  in  council, 
upon  a  hearing  on  complaint  from  the  General  Assembly, 
or  on  a  complaint  from  the  Governor,  or  Council,  or  the 
House  of  Representatives  severally,  of  the  colony  in  which 
the  said  Chief  Justice  and  other  judges  have  exercised  the 
said  offices." 

The  next  resolution  relates  to  the  Courts  of 
Admiralty.  It  is  this  : 

"  That  it  may  be  proper  to  regulate  the  Courts  of  Admiralty, 
or  Vice  Admiralty,  authorized  by  the  15th  chapter  of  the  4th 
of  George  the  Third,  in  such  a  manner  as  to  make  the  same 
more  commodious  to  those  who  sue,  or  are  sued,  in  the  said 


CONCILIA  TION.  2?$ 

courts,  and  to  provide  for  the  more  decent  maintenance  of  the 
judges  in  the  same." 

These  courts  I  do  not  wish  to  take  away. 
They  are  in  themselves  proper  establishments. 
This  court  is  one  of  the  capital  securities  of  the 
Act  of  Navigation.  The  extent  of  its  jurisdic- 
tion, indeed,  has  been  increased ;  but  this  is 
altogether  as  proper,  and  is,  indeed,  on  many 
accounts,  more  eligible,  where  new  powers  were 
wanted,  than  a  court  absolutely  new.  But 
courts  incommodiously  situated,  in  effect,  deny 
justice ;  and  a  court,  partaking  in  the  fruits  of 
its  own  condemnation,  is  a  robber.  The  Con- 
gress complain,  and  complain  justly,  of  this 
grievance. 

These  are  the  three  consequential  propositions. 
I  have  thought  of  two  or  three  more,  but  they 
come  rather  too  near  detail,  and  to  the  province 
of  executive  government,  which  I  wish  Parlia- 
ment always  to  superintend,  never  to  assume. 
If  the  first  six  are  granted,  congruity  will  carry 
the  latter  three.  If  not,  the  things  that  remain 
unrepealed  will  be,  I  hope,  rather  unseemly  en- 
cumbrances on  the  building,  than  very  materi- 
ally detrimental  to  its  strength  and  stability. 

Here,  sir,  I  should  close,  but  that  I  plainly 
perceive  some  objections  remain,  which  I 


276  MR.    BURKE. 

ought,  if  possible,  to  remove.  The  first  will  be, 
that,  in  resorting  to  the  doctrine  of  our  ances- 
tors, as  contained  in  the  preamble  to  the 
Chester  act,  I  prove  too  much  ;  that  the  griev- 
ance from  a  want  of  representation  stated  in 
that  preamble,  goes  to  the  whole  of  legislation 
as  well  as  to  taxation.  And  that  the  colonies, 
grounding  themselves  upon  that  doctrine, 
will  apply  it  to  all  parts  of  legislative  au- 
thority. 

To  this  objection,  with  all  possible  deference 
and  humility,  and  wishing  as  little  as  any  man 
living  to  impair  the  smallest  particle  of  our  su- 
preme authority,  I  answer,  that  the  words  are  the 
words  of  Parliament,  and  not  mine ;  and  that  all 
false  and  inconclusive  inferences  drawn  from 
them  are  not  mine,  for  I  heartily  disclaim  any 
such  inference.  I  have  chosen  the  words  of  an 
act  of  Parliament,  which  Mr.  Grenville,  surely  a 
tolerably  zealous  and  very  judicious  advocate  for 
the  sovereignty  of  Parliament,  formerly  moved 
to  have  read  at  your  table,  in  confirmation  of 
his  tenets.  It  is  true  that  Lord  Chatham  con- 
sidered these  preambles  as  declaring  strongly  in 
favor  of  his  opinions.  He  was  a  no  less  power- 
ful advocate  for  the  privileges  of  the  Americans. 
Ought  I  not  from  hence  to  presume  that  these 


CONCILIA  TWN. 


preambles  are  as  favorable  as  possible  to  both, 
when  properly  understood  ;  favorable  both  to  the 
rights  of  Parliament,  and  to  the  privilege  of  the 
dependencies  of  this  crown  ?  But,  sir,  the  ob- 
ject of  grievance  in  my  resolution  I  have  not 
taken  from  the  Chester,  but  from  the  Durham 
act,  which  confines  the  hardship  of  want  of  rep- 
resentation to  the  case  of  subsidies,  and  which, 
therefore,  falls  in  exactly  with  the  case  of  the 
colonies.  But  whether  the  unrepresented  coun- 
ties were  de  jure  or  de  facto  bound,  the  pream- 
bles do  not  accurately  distinguish  ;  nor  indeed 
was  it  necessary  ;  for,  whether  de  jure  or  de  fac- 
to, the  Legislature  thought  the  exercise  of  the 
power  of  taxing,  as  of  right,  or  as  of  fact  with- 
out right,  equally  a  grievance,  and  equally  op- 
pressive. 

I  do  not  know  that  the  colonies  have,  in  any 
general  way  or  in  any  cool  hour,  gone  much  be- 
yond the  demand  of  immunity  in  relation  to 
taxes.  It  is  not  fair  to  judge  of  the  temper  or 
dispositions  of  any  man,  or  any  set  of  men,  when 
they  are  composed  and  at  rest,  from  their  con- 
duct or  their  expressions  in  a  state  of  dis- 
turbance and  irritation.  It  is,  besides,  a  very 
great  mistake  to  imagine  that  mankind  follow 
up  practically  any  speculative  principle,  either 


2/8  MR.    BURKE. 

of  government  or  freedom,  as  far  as  it  will  go  in 
argument  and  logical  illation.  We  Englishmen 
stop  very  short  of  the  principles  upon  which  we 
support  any  given  part  of  our  Constitution,  or 
even  the  whole  of  it  together.  I  could  easily,  if 
I  had  not  already  tired  you,  give  you  very 
striking  and  convincing  instances  of  it.  This  is 
nothing  but  what  is  natural  and  proper.  All 
government,  indeed  every  human  benefit  and 
enjoyment,  every  virtue  and  every  prudent  act, 
is  founded  on  compromise  and  barter.70  We 
balance  inconveniences ;  we  give  and  take  ;  we 
remit  some  rights  that  we  may  enjoy  others ; 
and  we  choose  rather  to  be  happy  citizens  than 
subtle  disputants.  As  we  must  give  away  some 
natural  liberty  to  enjoy  civil  advantages,  so  we 
must  sacrifice  some  civil  liberties  for  the  advan- 
tages to  be  derived  from  the  communion  and 
fellowship  of  a  great  empire.  But,  in  all  fair 
dealings,  the  thing  bought  must  bear  some  pro- 
portion to  the  purchase  paid.  None  will  barter 
away  "the  immediate  jewel  of  his  soul."71 
Though  a  great  house  is  apt  to  make  slaves 
haughty,  yet  it  is  purchasing  a  part  of  the  arti- 
ficial importance  of  a  great  empire  too  dear  to 
pay  for  it  all  essential  rights  and  all  the  intrin- 
sic dignity  of  human  nature.  None  of  us  who 


CONCILIA  TION.  2?$ 

would  not  risk  his  life  rather  than  fall  under  a 
government  purely  arbitrary.  But,  although 
there  are  some  among  us  who  think  our  Consti- 
tution wants  many  improvements  to  make  it  a 
complete  system  of  liberty,  perhaps  none  who 
are  of  that  opinion  would  think  it  right  to 
aim  at  such  improvement  by  disturbing  his 
country,  and  risking  every  thing  that  is  dear  to 
him.  In  every  arduous  enterprise  we  consider 
what  we  are  to  lose  as  well  as  what  we  are  to 
gain  ;  and  the  more  and  better  stake  of  liberty 
every  people  possess,  the  less  they  will  hazard 
in  a  vain  attempt  to  make  it  more.  These  are 
the  cords  of  man."12  Man  acts  from  adequate 
motive  relative  to  his  interest,  and  not  on 
metaphysical  speculations.  Aristotle,  the  great 
master  of  reasoning,  cautions  us,  and  with 
great  weight  and  propriety,  against  this  species 
of  delusive  geometrical  accuracy  in  moral  argu- 
ments as  the  most  fallacious  of  all  sophistry.73 
The  Americans  will  have  no  interest  contrary 
to  the  grandeur  and  glory  of  England,  when 
they  are  not  oppressed  by  the  weight  of  it ;  and 
they  will  rather  be  inclined  to  respect  the  acts 
of  a  superintending  Legislature,  when  they  see 
them  the  acts  of  that  power  which  is  itself  the 
security,  not  the  rival,  of  their  secondary  im- 


280  MR.   BURKE. 

portance.  In  this  assurance  my  mind  most 
perfectly  acquiesces,  and  I  confess  I  feel  not 
the  least  alarm  from  the  discontents  which  are 
to  arise  from  putting  people  at  their  ease  ;  nor 
do  I  apprehend  the  destruction  of  this  empire 
from  giving,  by  an  act  of  free  grace  and  indul- 
gence, to  two  millions  of  my  fellow-citizens, 
some  share  of  those  rights  upon  which  I  have 
always  been  taught  to  value  myself. 

It  is  said,  indeed,  that  this  power  of  granting, 
vested  in  American  assemblies,  would  dissolve 
the  unity  of  the  empire,  which  was  preserved 
entire,  although  Wales,  and  Chester,  and  Dur- 
ham were  added  to  it.  Truly,  Mr.  Speaker,  I 
do  not  know  what  this  unity  means,  nor  has  it 
ever  been  heard  of,  that  I  know,  in  the  consti- 
tutional policy  of  this  country.  The  very  idea 
of  subordination  of  parts  excludes  this  notion 
of  simple  and  undivided  unity.  England  is  the 
head,  but  she  is  not  the  head  and  the  mem- 
bers too.  Ireland  has  ever  had  from  the  be- 
ginning a  separate,  but  not  an  independent 
Legislature,  which,  far  from  distracting,  pro- 
moted the  union  of  the  whole.  Every  thing 
was  sweetly  and  harmoniously  disposed  through 
both  islands  for  the  conservation  of  English 
dominion  and  the  communication  of  English 


CONCILIA  TION.  2  8 1 

liberties.  I  do  not  see  that  the  same  principles 
might  not  be  carried  into  twenty  islands,  and 
with  the  same  good  effect.  This  is  my  model 
with  regard  to  America,  as  far  as  the  internal 
circumstances  of  the  two  countries  are  the 
same.  I  know  no  other  unity  of  this  empire 
than  I  can  draw  from  its  example  during  these 
periods,  when  it  seemed  to  my  poor  under- 
standing more  united  than  it  is  now,  or  than  it 
is  likely  to  be  by  the  present  methods. 

But  since  I  speak  of  these  methods,  I  recol- 
lect, Mr.  Speaker,  almost  too  late,  that  I 
promised,  before  I  finished,  to  say  something 
of  the  proposition  of  the  noble  Lord  [Lord 
North]  on  the  floor,  which  has  been  so  lately 
received,  and  stands  on  your  journals.  I  must 
be  deeply  concerned  whenever  it  is  my  mis- 
fortune to  continue  a  difference  with  the  ma- 
jority of  this  House.  But  as  the  reasons  for 
that  difference  are  my  apology  for  thus  troub- 
ling you,  suffer  me  to  state  them  in  a  very  few 
words.  I  shall  compress  them  into  as  small  a 
body  as  I  possibly  can,  having  already  debated 
that  matter  at  large  when  the  question  was  be- 
fore the  committee. 

First,  then  I  cannot  admit  that  proposition 
of  a  ransom  by  auction,  because  it  is  a  mere 


282  MR.    BURKE. 

project.  It  is  a  thing  new ;  unheard  of ;  sup- 
ported by  no  experience  ;  justified  by  no  anal- 
ogy ;  without  example  of  our  ancestors,  or  root 
in  the  Constitution.  It  is  neither  regular  par- 
liamentary taxation  nor  colony  grant.  "  Ex- 
perimentum  in  cor  pore  vili"  "**  is  a  good  rule, 
which  will  ever  make  me  adverse  to  any  trial 
of  experiments  on  what  is  certainly  the  most 
valuable  of  all  subjects,  the  peace  of  this  em- 
pire. 

Secondly,  it  is  an  experiment  which  must  be 
fatal,  in  the  end,  to  our  Constitution.  For 
what  is  it  but  a  scheme  for  taxing  the  colonies 
in  the  ante-chamber  of  the  noble  Lord  and  his 
successors  ?  To  settle  the  quotas  and  propor- 
tions in  this  House  is  clearly  impossible.  You, 
sir,  may  flatter  yourself  you  shall  sit  a  state 
auctioneer  with  your  hammer  in  your  hand, 
and  knock  down  to  each  colony  as  it  bids.  But 
to  settle  (on  the  plan  laid  down  by  the  noble 
Lord)  the  true  proportional  payment  for  four 
or  five-and-twenty  governments  according  to 
the  absolute  and  the  relative  wealth  of  each,  and 
according  to  the  British  proportion  of  wealth 
and  burden,  is  a  wild  and  chimerical  notion. 
This  new  taxation  must  therefore  come  in  by 
the  back  door  of  the  Constitution.  Each  'quota 


COX  CILIA  TION.  283 

must  be  brought  to  this  House  ready  formed  ; 
you  can  neither  add  nor  alter.  You  must 
register  it.  You  can  do  nothing  farther.  For 
on  what  grounds  can  you  deliberate,  either  be- 
fore or  after  the  proposition.  You  cannot 
hear  the  counsel  for  all  these  provinces,  quar- 
relling each  on  its  own  quantity  of  payment, 
and  its  proportion  to  others.  If  you  should 
attempt  it,  the  committee  of  provincial  ways 
and  means,  or  by  whatever  other  name  it  will 
delight  to  be  called,  must  swallow  tip  all  the 
time  of  Parliament. 

Thirdly,  it  does  not  give  satisfaction  to  the 
complaint  of  the  colonies.  They  complain 
that  they  are  taxed  without  their  consent ;  you 
answer,  that  you  will  fix  the  sum  at  which 
they  shall  be  taxed.  That  is,  you  give  them 
the  very  grievance  for  the  remedy.  You  tell 
them  indeed,  that  you  will  leave  the  mode  to 
themselves.  I  really  beg  pardon.  It  gives  me 
pain  to  mention  it ;  but  you  must  be  sensible 
that  you  will  not  perform  this  part  of  the  con- 
tract. For,  suppose  the  colonies  were  to  lay 
the  duties  which  furnished  their  contingent 
upon  the  importation  of  your  manufactures  ? 
you  know  you  would  never  suffer  such  a  tax  to 
be  laid.  You  know,  too,  that  you  would  not 


284  MR.    BURKE. 

suffer  many  other  modes  of  taxation  ;  so  that 
when  you  come  to  explain  yourself,  it  will  be 
found  that  you  will  neither  leave  to  themselves 
the  quantum  nor  the  mode,  nor,  indeed,  any 
thing.  The  whole  is  delusion  from  one  end  to 
the  other. 

Fourthly,  this  method  of  ransom  by  auction, 
unless  it  be  universally  accepted,  will  plunge 
you  into  great  and  inextricable  difficulties.  In 
what  year  of  our  Lord  are  the  proportions  of 
payments  to  be  settled,  to  say  nothing  of  the 
impossibility,  that  colony  agents  should  have 
general  powers  of  taxing  the  colonies  at  their 
discretion  ?  Consider,  I  implore  you,  that  the 
communication  by  special  messages,  and  orders 
between  these  agents  and  their  constituents  on 
each  variation  of  the  case,  when  the  parties 
come  to  contend  together,  and  to  dispute  on 
their  relative  proportions,  will  be  a  matter  of 
delay,  perplexity,  and  confusion  that  never  can 
have  an  end. 

If  all  the  colonies  do  not  appear  at  the  out- 
cry, what  is  the  condition  of  those  assemblies, 
who  offer,  by  themselves  or  their  agents,  to  tax 
themselves  up  to  your  ideas  of  their  propor- 
tion ?  The  refractory  colonies  who  refuse  all 
composition  will  remain  taxed  only  to  your  old 


CONCILIA  TION.  285 

impositions,  which,  however  grievous  in  princi- 
ple, are  trifling  as  to  production.  The  obedient 
colonies  in  this  scheme  are  heavily  taxed  ;  the 
refractory  remain  unburdened.  What  will  you 
do  ?  Will  you  lay  new  and  heavier  taxes  by 
Parliament  on  the  disobedient  ?  Pray  consider 
in  what  way  you  can  do  it.  You  are  perfectly 
convinced  that  in  the  way  of  taxing  you  can  do 
nothing  but  at  the  ports.  Now  suppose  it  is 
Virginia  that  refuses  to  appear  at  your  auction, 
while  Maryland  and  North  Carolina  bid  hand- 
somely for  their  ransom,  and  are  taxed  to  your 
quota.  How  will  you  put  these  colonies  on  a 
par?  Will  you  tax  the  tobacco  of  Virginia?  If 
you  do,  you  give  its  death  wound  to  your  English 
revenue  at  home,  and  to  one  of  the  very  great- 
est articles  of  your  own  foreign  trade.  If  you 
tax  the  import  of  that  rebellious  colony,  what 
do  you  tax  but  your  own  manufactures,  or  the 
goods  of  some  other  obedient  and  already  well- 
taxed  colony  ?  Who  has  said  one  word  on  this 
labyrinth  of  detail,  which  bewilders  you  more 
and  more  as  you  enter  into  it  ?  Who  has  pre- 
sented, who  can  present  you  with  a  clew  to 
lead  you  out  of  it  ?  I  think,  sir,  it  is  impossi- 
ble that  you  should  not  recollect  that  the 
colony  bounds  are  so  implicated  in  one  another 


286  JfJf.  BURKE. 

(you  know  it  by  your  own  experiments  in  the 
bill  for  prohibiting  the  New  England  fishery) 
that  you  can  lay  no  possible  restraints  on  almost 
any  of  them  which  may  not  be  presently 
eluded,  if  you  do  not  confound  the  innocent 
with  the  guilt}*,  and  burden  those  whom,  upon 
every  principle,  you  ought  to  exonerate.  He 
must  be  grossly  ignorant  of  America  who  thinks 
that,  without  falling  into  this  confusion  of  all 
rules  of  equity  and  policy,  you  can  restrain 
any  single  colony,  especially  Virginia  and  Mary- 
land, the  central  and  most  important  of  them 
alL 

Let  it  also  be  considered,  that  either  in  the 
present  confusion  you  settle  a  permanent  con- 
tingent which  will  and  must  be  trifling,  and  then 
you  have  no  effectual  revenue  ;  or,  you  change 
the  quota  at  every  exigency,  and  then  on  every 
new  repartition  you  will  have  a  new  quarrel. 

Reflect,  besides,  that  when  you  have  fixed  a 
quota  for  every  colony,  you  have  not  provided 
for  prompt  and  punctual  payment.  Suppose 
one,  two,  five,  ten  years  arrears.  You  cannot 
issue  a  Treasury  Extent  7  5  against  the  failing 
colony.  You  must  make  new  Boston  Port  bills, 
new  restraining  laws,  new  acts  for  dragging  men 
to  England  for  triaL  You  must  send  out  new 


CONCILIA  TION.  2o/ 

fleets,  new  armies.  All  is  to  begin  again.  From 
this  day  forward  the  empire  is  never  to  know 
an  hour's  tranquillity.  An  intestine  fire  will  be 
kept  alive  in  the  bowels  of  the  colonies,  which 
one  time  or  another  must  consume  this  whole 
Empire.  I  allow,  indeed,  that  the  Empire  of 
Germany  raises  her  revenue  and  her  troops  by 
quotas  and  contingents  ;  but  the  revenue  of  the 
Empire,  and  the  army  of  the  Empire,  is  the 
worst  revenue  and  the  worst  army  in  the  world. 
Instead  of  a  standing  revenue,  you  will  there- 
fore have  a  perpetual  quarrel.  Indeed,  the  noble 
Lord  who  proposed  this  project  of  a  ransom  by 
auction,  seemed  himself  to  be  of  that  opinion. 
His  project  was  rather  designed  for  breaking 
the  union  of  the  colonies  than  for  establishing 
a  revenue.  He  confessed  that  he  apprehended 
that  his  proposal  would  not  be  to  tfair  taste. 
I  say  this  scheme  of  disunion  seems  to  be  at 
the  bottom  of  the  project ;  for  I  will  not  sus- 
pect that  the  noble  Lord  meant  nothing  but 
merely  to  delude  the  nation  by  an  airy  phan- 
tom which  he  never  intended  to  realize.  But, 
whatever  his  views  may  be,  as  I  propose  the 
peace  and  union  of  the  colonies  as  the  very 
foundation  of  my  plan,  it  cannot  accord  with 
one  whose  foundation  is  perpetual  discord. 


288  MR.   BURKE. 

Compare  the  two.  This  I  offer  to  give  you 
is  plain  and  simple.  The  other,  full  of  perplexed 
and  intricate  mazes.  This  is  mild  ;  that,  harsh. 
This  is  found  by  experience  effectual  for  its 
purposes  ;  the  other  is  a  new  project.  This  is 
universal ;  the  other,  calculated  for  certain  col- 
onies only.  This  is  immediate  in  its  concil- 
iatory operation  ;  the  other,  remote,  contingent, 
full  of  hazard.  Mine  is  what  becomes  the  dig- 
nity of  a  ruling  people  ;  gratuitous,  uncondi- 
tional, and  not  held  out  as  matter  of  bargain 
and  sale.  I  have  done  my  duty  in  proposing  it 
to  you.  I  have  indeed  tired  you  by  a  long  dis- 
course ;  but  this  is  the  misfortune  of  those  to 
whose  influence  nothing  will  be  conceded,  and 
who  must  win  every  inch  of  their  ground  by 
argument.  You  have  heard  me  with  goodness. 
May  you  decide  with  wisdom  !  For  my  part,  I 
feel  my  mind  greatly  disburdened  by  what  I 
have  done  to-day.  I  have  been  the  less  fearful 
of  trying  your  patience,  because  on  this  subject 
I  mean  to  spare  it  altogether  in  future.  I  have 
this  comfort,  that  in  every  stage  of  the  Ameri- 
can affairs,  I  have  steadily  opposed  the  meas- 
ures that  have  produced  the  confusion,  and  may 
bring  on  the  destruction  of  this  Empire.  I  now 
go  so  far  as  to  risk  a  proposal  of  my  own.  If  I 


CONCILIA  TION.  289 

cannot  give  peace  to  my  country,  I  give  it  to 
my  conscience. 

But  what,  says  the  financier,  is  peace  to  us 
without  money?  Your  plan  gives  us  no  rev- 
enue. No  !  But  it  does — for  it  secures  to  the 
subject  the  power  of  REFUSAL — the  first  of 
all  revenues.  Experience  is  a  cheat,  and  fact  a 
liar,  if  this  power  in  the  subject  of  proportion- 
ing his  grant,  or  of  not  granting  at  all,  has  not 
been  found  the  richest  mine  of  revenue  ever 
discovered  by  the  skill  or  by  the  fortune  of 
man.  It  does  not  indeed  vote  you  -£152,750 
I  is.  2\d.,  nor  any  other  paltry  limited  sum,  but 
it  gives  the  strong  box  itself,  the  fund,  the  bank, 
from  whence  only  revenues  can  arise  among 
a  people  sensible  of  freedom :  Posita  luditur 
area. 7  6 

Cannot  you  in  England ;  cannot  you  at  this 
time  of  day ;  cannot  you — a  House  of  Com- 
mons— trust  to  the  principle  which  has  raised 
so  mighty  a  revenue,  and  accumulated  a  debt 
of  near  one  hundred  and  forty  millions  in  this 
country  ?  Is  this  principle  to  be  true  in  Eng- 
land and  false  everywhere  else  ?  Is  it  not  true 
in  Ireland  ?  Has  it  not  hitherto  been  true  in 
the  colonies  ?  Why  should  you  presume,  that 
in  any  country,  a  body  duly  constituted  for  any 


290  MR.   BURKE. 

functions  will  neglect  to  perform  its  duty,  and 
abdicate  its  trust  ?  Such  a  presumption  would 
go  against  all  government  in  all  modes.  But, 
in  truth,  this  dread  of  penury  of  supply,  from  a 
free  assembly,  has  no  foundation  in  nature.  For 
first  observe,  that,  besides  the  desire,  which  all 
men  have  naturally,  of  supporting  the  honor  of 
their  own  government,  that  sense  of  dignity, 
and  that  security  of  property,  which  ever  at- 
tends freedom,  has  a  tendency  to  increase  the 
stock  of  the  free  community.  Most  may  be 
taken  where  most  is  accumulated.  And  what 
is  the  soil  or  climate  where  experience  has  not 
uniformly  proved  that  the  voluntary  flow  of 
heaped-up  plenty,  bursting  from  the  weight  of 
its  own  rich  luxuriance,  has  ever  run  with  a 
more  copious  stream  of  revenue,  than  could  be 
squeezed  from  the  dry  husks  of  oppressed  indi- 
gence, by  the  straining  of  all  the  politic  ma- 
chinery in  the  world. 

Next,  we  know  that  parties  must  ever  exist 
in  a  free  country.  We  know,  too,  that  the 
emulations  of  such  parties,  their  contradictions, 
their  reciprocal  necessities,  their  hopes  and 
their  fears,  must  send  them  all  in  their  turns  to 
him  that  holds  the  balance  of  the  state.  The 
parties  are  the  gamesters,  but  Government 


CONCILIATION.  291 

keeps  the  table,  and  is  sure  to  be  the  winner  in 
the  end.  When  this  game  is  played,  I  really 
think  it  is  more  to  be  feared  that  the  people 
will  be  exhausted,  than  that  Government  will 
not  be  supplied  ;  whereas,  whatever  is  got 
by  acts  of  absolute  power,  ill  obeyed,  because 
odious,  or  by  contracts  ill  kept,  because  con- 
strained, will  be  narrow,  feeble,  uncertain,  and 
precarious. 

"  Ease  would  retract 
Vows  made  in  pain,  as  violent  and  void."  77 

I,  for  one,  protest  against  compounding  our 
demands.  I  declare  against  compounding,  fora 
poor  limited  sum,  the  immense  ever-growing, 
eternal  debt  which  is  due  to  generous  govern- 
ment from  protected  freedom.  And  so  may  I 
speed  in  the  great  object  I  propose  to  you,  as  I 
think  it  would  not  only  be  an  act  of  injustice, 
but  would  be  the  worst  economy  in  the  world, 
to  compel  the  colonies  to  a  sum  certain,  either 
in  the  way  of  ransom  or  in  the  way  of  compul- 
sory compact. 

But  to  clear  up  my  ideas  on  this  subject ;  a 
revenue  from  America  transmitted  hither — do 
not  delude  yourselves — you  never  can  receive  it 
— no,  not  a  shilling.  We  have  experienced 
that  from  remote  countries  it  is  not  to  be  ex- 


2Q2  MR.   BURKE. 

pected.  If,  when  you  attempted  to  extract 
revenue  from  Bengal,  you  were  obliged  to  re- 
turn in  loan  what  you  had  taken  in  imposition, 
what  can  you  expect  from  North  America  ?  for 
certainly,  if  ever  there  was  a  country  qualified 
to  produce  wealth,  it  is  India;  or  an  institu- 
tion fit  for  the  transmission,  it  is  the  East  India 
Company.  America  has  none  of  these  apti- 
tudes. If  America  gives  you  taxable  objects 
on  which  you  lay  your  duties  here,  and  gives 
you,  at  the  same  time,  a  surplus  by  a  foreign 
sale  of  her  commodities  to  pay  the  duties  on 
these  objects  which  you  tax  at  home,  she  has 
performed  her  part  to  the  British  revenue.  But 
with  regard  to  her  own  internal  establishments, 
she  may,  I  doubt  not  she  will,  contribute  in 
moderation  ;  I  say  in  moderation,  for  she  ought 
not  to  be  permitted  to  exhaust  herself.  She 
ought  to  be  reserved  to  a  war,  the  weight  of 
which,  with  the  enemies  that  we  are  most  likely 
to  have,  must  be  considerable  in  her  quarter  of 
the  globe.  There  she  may  serve  you,  and  serve 
you  essentially. 

For  that  service,  for  all  service,  whether  of 
revenue,  trade  or  empire,  my  trust  is  in  her 
interest  in  the  British  Constitution.  My  hold 
of  the  colonies  is  in  the  close  affection  which 


CONCILIA  TION.  293 

grows  from  common  names,  from  kindred 
blood,  from  similar  privileges,  and  equal  pro- 
tection. These  are  ties  which,  though  light  as 
air,  are  as  strong  as  links  of  iron.  Let  the  colo- 
nies always  keep  the  idea  of  their  civil  rights 
associated  with  your  government ;  they  will 
cling  and  grapple  to  you,  and  no  force  under 
heaven  will  be  of  power  to  tear  them  from  their 
allegiance.  But  let  it  be  once  understood  that 
your  government  may  be  one  thing,  and  their 
privileges  another ;  that  these  two  things  may 
exist  without  any  mutual  relation  ;  the  cement 
is  gone ;  the  cohesion  is  loosened ;  and  every 
thing  hastens  to  decay  and  dissolution.  As 
long  as  you  have  the  wisdom  to  keep  the  sover- 
eign authority  of  this  country  as  the  sanctuary 
of  liberty,  the  sacred  temple  consecrated  to  our 
common  faith,  wherever  the  chosen  race  and 
sons  of  England  worship  Freedom,  they  will 
turn  their  faces  toward  you.  The  more  they 
multiply,  the  more  friends  you  will  have.  The 
more  ardently  they  love  liberty,  the  more  perfect 
will  be  their  obedience.  Slavery  they  can  have 
anywhere.  It  is  a  weed  that  grows  in  every 
soil.  They  may  have  it  from  Spain  ;  they  may 
have  it  from  Prussia;  but,  until  you  become 
lost  to  all  feeling  of  your  true  interest  and  your 


294  MR.   BURKE. 

natural  dignity,  freedom  they  can  have  from 
none  but  you.  This  is  the  commodity  of  price, 
of  which  you  have  the  monopoly.  This  is  the 
true  Act  of  Navigation,  which  binds  to  you  the 
commerce  of  the  colonies,  and  through  them 
secures  to  you  the  wealth  of  the  world.  Deny 
them  this  participation  of  freedom,  and  you 
break  that  sole  bond  which  originally  made, 
and  must  still  preserve,  the  unity  of  the  empire. 
Do  not  entertain  so  weak  an  imagination  as 
that  your  registers  and  your  bonds,  your  affi- 
davits and  your  sufferances,  your  cockets  and 
your  clearances,  are  what  form  the  great  secu- 
rities of  your  commerce.  Do  not  dream  that 
your  letters  of  office,  and  your  instructions,  and 
your  suspending  clauses,  are  the  things  that 
hold  together  the  great  contexture  of  this 
mysterious  whole.  These  things  do  not  make 
your  government.  Dead  instruments,  passive 
tools  as  they  are,  it  is  the  spirit  of  the  English 
communion  that  gives  all  their  life  and  efficacy 
to  them.  It  is  the  spirit  of  the  English  Con- 
stitution, which,  infused  through  the  mighty 
mass,  pervades,  feeds,  unites,  invigorates,  vivifies 
every  part  of  the  empire,  even  down  to  the 
minutest  member."78 

Is  it  not  the  same  virtue  which  does  every 
thing  for  us  here  in  England? 


CONCILIA  TION.  295 

Do  you  imagine  then,  that  it  is  the  Land 
Tax79  which  raises  your  revenue  ?  that  it  is  the 
annual  vote  in  the  Committee  of  Supply,  which 
gives  you  your  army  ?  or  that  it  is  the  Mutiny 
Bill,80  which  inspires  it  with  bravery  and  disci- 
pline? No!  surely  no!  It  is  the  love  of  the 
people  ;  it  is  their  attachment  to  their  Govern- 
ment, from  the  sense  of  the  deep  stake  they 
have  in  such  a  glorious  institution,  which  gives 
you  your  army  and  your  navy,  and  infuses  into 
both  that  liberal  obedience,  without  which  your 
army  would  be  a  base  rabble,  and  your  navy 
nothing  but  rotten  timber. 

All  this,  I  know  well  enough,  will  sound  wild 
and  chimerical  to  the  profane  herd  of  those 
vulgar  and  mechanical  politicians,  who  have  no 
place  among  us ;  a  sort  of  people  who  think 
that  nothing  exists  but  what  is  gross  and  ma- 
terial, and  who,  therefore,  far  from  being  qualified 
to  be  directors  of  the  great  movement  of  em- 
pire, are  not  fit  to  turn  a  wheel  in  the  ma- 
chine. But  to  men  truly  initiated  and  rightly 
taught,  these  ruling  and  master  principles, 
which,  in  the  opinion  of  such  men  as  I  have 
mentioned,  have  no  substantial  existence,  are 
in  truth  every  thing  and  all  in  all.  Magna- 
nimity in  politics  is  not  seldom  the  truest  wis- 


296  MR,   BURKE. 

dom  ;  and  a  great  empire  and  little  minds  go 
ill  together.  If  we  are  conscious  of  our  situa- 
tion, and  glow  with  zeal  to  fill  our  place  as  be- 
comes our  station  and  ourselves,  we  ought  to 
auspicate  all  our  public  proceeding  on  America 
with  the  old  warning  of  the  church,  sursum  cor- 
da!  81  We  ought  to  elevate  our  minds  to  the 
greatness  of  that  trust  to  which  the  order  of 
Providence  has  called  us.  By  adverting  to  the 
dignity  of  this  high  calling,  our  ancestors  have 
turned  a  savage  wilderness  into  a  glorious  em- 
pire, and  have  made  the  most  extensive  and 
the  only  honorable  conquests,  not  by  destroying 
but  by  promoting,  the  wealth,  the  number,  the 
happiness  of  the  human  race.  Let  us  get  an 
American  revenue  as  we  have  got  an  American 
empire.  English  privileges  have  made  it  all 
that  it  is ;  English  privileges  alone  will  make 
it  all  it  can  be. 

In  full  confidence  of  this  unalterable  truth, 
I  now,  quod  felix  faustumque  sit,82  lay  the 
first  stone  in  the  temple  of  peace  ;  and  I  move 
you, 

That  the  colonies  and  plantations  of  Great 
Britain  in  North  America,  consisting  of  fourteen 
separate  governments,  and  containing  two  mil- 
lions and  upward  of  free  inhabitants,  have 


CONCILIA  TION.  297 

not  had  the  liberty  and  privilege  of  elect- 
ing and  sending  any  knights  and  burgesses,  or 
others,  to  represent  them  in  the  high  court  of 
Parliament. 

On  the  first  resolution  offered  by  Mr.  Burke  the  votes  in  favor 
of  it  were  only  78  while  those  against  it  were  270.  The  other 
resolutions  were  not  put  to  vote.  This  may  be  regarded  as  the 
final  answer  of  the  House  of  Commons  to  all  attempts  to  save 
the  colonies  except  by  force.  The  policy  of  war  was  thus 
adopted,  with  what  result  the  world  very  well  knows. 


ILLUSTRATIVE    NOTES. 


NOTE  I,  p.  8. — Ever  since  the  Norman  Conquest  the  royal 
assent  to  measures  of  Parliament  has  been  given  in  a  form  from 
which  there  has  been  no  variation.  To  ' '  public  bills  "  the  words 
attached  are  "  le  roy  le  veult";  to  petitions,  "  soit  droit  fait 
comme  il  est  dtsirt";  and  for  grants  of  money,  "  the  King 
heartily  thanks  his  subjects  for  their  good -wills."  In  the  present 
instance,  instead  of  soit  droit  fait  comme  il  est  ddsird,  the  King 
caused  to  be  appended  to  the  petition,  "  The  King  willeth 
that  right  be  done  according  to  the  laws  and  customs  of  the 
realm  ;  that  the  statutes  be  put  into  due  execution  ;  and  that 
his  subjects  may  have  no  cause  to  complain  of  any  wrong  or 
oppressions  contrary  to  their  just  rights  and  liberties,  to  the 
preservation  whereof  he  holds  himself  in  conscience  as  well 
obliged,  as  of  his  own  prerogative." — Rushworth,  i.,  588.  On 
the  forms  of  royal  assent  see  the  learned  account  by  Selden  in 
"  Parliamentary  History,"  viii.,  237. 

NOTE  2,  p.  9. — Rushworth,  i.,  591.  The  version  of  Eliot's 
speech  given  by  Rushworth  is  the  one  ordinarily  reprinted  in 
modern  collections.  But  in  the  papers  of  the  Earl  of  St. 
Germans,  a  descendant  of  Sir  John  Eliot,  Mr.  John  Forster, 
some  years  ago,  found  a  copy  of  the  speech  corrected  by  Eliot 
himself  while  in  prison.  This  form,  much  superior  to  the 
others,  is  the  one  here  reproduced. 

NOTE  3,  p.  16. — Eliot,  in  the  expression,  "  want  of  coun- 
cils," doubtless  alludes  to  the  absorption  of  the  various  powers 
of  the  State  by  Buckingham.  The  allusion  was  not  without 
299 


3OO  ILLUSTRATIVE  NOTES. 

reason,  as  the  list  of  Buckingham's  titles  shows.  He  was : 
Duke,  Marquis,  and  Earl  of  Buckingham,  Earl  of  Coventry, 
Viscount  Villiers,  Baron  of  Whaddon,  Great  Admiral  of  Eng- 
land and  Ireland,  etc.,  etc.,  etc.,  Governor-General  of  the  Seas 
and  the  Ships  of  the  same,  Lieutenant-General  Admiral,  Cap- 
tain-General and  Governor  of  his  Majesty's  fleet  and  army, 
etc.,  Minister  of  the  House,  Lord  Warden,  Chancellor,  and 
Admiral  of  the  Cinque  Ports,  etc.,  Constable  of  Dover  Castle, 
Justice  in  Eyrie  of  the  Forest  of  Chases  on  this  side  of  the 
Trent,  Constable  of  the  Castle  of  Windsor,  Gentleman  of  the 
Bedchamber,  Knight  of  the  Garter,  Privy  Councillor,  etc. 
The  royal  domains  that  he  had  managed  to  have  given  to  him 
brought  an  income  of  .£284,395  a  year.  All  this  was  so  much 
drawn  from  the  public  treasury.  See  Bradie's  "  Constitutional 
History,"  new  edition,  vol.  i. ,  p.  424,  and  Guizot,  "Charles 
I.,"  Bohn's  ed.,  p.  15. 

NOTE  4,  p.  17. — The  Elector  Palatine,  Frederick  V.,  had 
married  Elizabeth,  the  daughter  of  James  I.,  of  England,  and 
by  his  election  as  King  of  Bohemia,  became  in  a  certain  sense 
the  representative  and  head  of  the  Protestant  party  in  Germany 
at  the  outbreak  of  the  Thirty  Years'  War  in  1618.  His  cause 
was  badly  managed  at  home,  and  still  more  wretchedly  managed 
in  England.  Constantly  deluded  with  hopes  of  support  from 
the  great  Protestant  power  in  the  North,  he  was  doomed  to 
perpetual  disappointment.  His  cause  was  shattered  at  the 
first  serious  conflict  at  White  Mountain  in  1620,  and  he  was 
obliged  to  flee  to  Holland  for  his  life.  Twelve  thousand  Eng- 
lish troops  were  subsequently  sent  to  the  support  of  Mans- 
feldt,  but  they  were  so  ill  managed  that  they  nearly  all  per- 
ished before  they  could  be  of  any  assistance.  The  sacrifice  of 
1 '  honor  "  and  of  "  men  "  was  most  abundant. 

NOTE  5,  p.  17. — In  1627  Richelieu  was  engaged  in  the 
work  of  reducing  La  Rochelle,  the  stronghold  of  the  Hugue- 
nots, into  subordination  to  the  King  of  France.  The 


ILLUSTRATIVE  NOTES.  30! 

work  had  to  be  done  by  means  of  a  siege,  which  included 
the  construction  of  a  dyke  across  the  mouth  of  the  har- 
bor. Buckingham,  inflamed  with  resentment  against  Riche- 
lieu, for  personal  reasons,  determined  to  relieve  the 
Rochellois.  He  collected  a  hundred  ships  and  seven 
thousand  land  forces,  and  advanced  to  the  rescue.  But 
on  reaching  the  scene  of  action,  instead  of  advancing  im- 
mediately to  relieve  the  beleaguered  city,  he  disembarked  on 
the  Isle  of  Rhee,  and  contented  himself  with  issuing  a  proc- 
lamation, calling  upon  all  French  Protestants  to  arise  for  a 
relief  of  their  brethren.  The  result  was  two-fold.  In  the  first 
place,  La  Rochelle,  after  one  of  the  most  memorable  sieges  in 
all  history,  was  reduced  ;  and,  secondly,  the  cause  of  Protes- 
tantism in  France  was  completely  crushed.  In  response  to 
Buckingham's  call,  the  Protestants  everywhere  .arose  ;  but 
Richelieu  was  now  at  leisure  to  destroy  them,  and  thus  their 
last  hope  perished. 

NOTE  6,  p.  17. — The  beauty  of  this  allusion  to  the  policy 
and  the  power  of  Queen  Elizabeth  has  very  justly  been  greatly 
admired.  Nothing  could  have  been  more  adroit  than  Eliot's 
comparison  of  the  ways  of  Elizabeth  with  those  of  Buck- 
ingham. 

NOTE  7,  p.  20. — Having  now  come  to  the  third  division  of 
his  subject,  "  The  insufficiency  of  our  generals,"  Eliot  natu- 
rally pauses  before  dragging  Buckingham  personally  upon  the 
scene.  But  for  what  follows  the  Duke  was  personally  respon- 
sible. 

NOTE  8,  p.  21. — In  1625  an  expedition  of  eighty  sail  had 
been  fitted  out  for  the  purpose  of  intercepting  the  Spanish 
treasure  ships  from  America.  But  by  reason  of  the  incompe- 
tency  of  the  commander  there  was  no  concert  of  action  in 
the  fleet,  and  the  treasure  ships  escaped,  though  seven  of  them 
that  would  have  richly  repaid  the  expedition  might  easily  have 
been  taken.  But  not  wishing  to  return  empty  handed,  the 


302  ILLUSTRATIVE  NOTES. 

commander  effected  a  landing  near  Cadiz.  The  soldiers  broke 
open  the  wine-cellars  and  became  so  drunk  that  when  the 
commander  determined  to  withdraw,  several  hundred  were 
left  to  perish  under  the  knives  of  the  peasants. 

NOTE  9,  p.  24. — What  the  orator  contemptuously  calls  the 
"journey  to  Algiers,"  was  nothing  less  than  an  expedition  sent 
out  for  its  conquest.  But  it  fared  like  the  most  of  Bucking- 
ham's other  "  journeys."  The  Algerines  turned  upon  the 
English;  and  thirty-five  ships  engaged  in  the  Mediterranean 
trade  were  destroyed,  and  their  crews  sold  into  slavery. 

NOTE  10,  p.  43. — For  powers  and  privileges  of  the  early 
English  Parliaments,  see  Stubbs,  ii.,  §§  220-233,  an(i  27I- 
298.  Also  on  the  right  of  Parliament  to  make  a  grant  depend 
on  redress  of  grievances,  Hallam  :  "  Mid.  Ages,"  Am.  ed.,  iii., 
p.  84,  seg.  It  is  a  curious  fact  that  in  the  Early  Middle  Ages 
there  was  a  very  general  reluctance  on  the  part  of  towns  to 
send  representatives.  Hallam:  "Mid.  Ages,"  iii.,  in.  Cox: 
"Ant.  Parl.  Elections,"  84,  93,  98.  Todd  :  "  Parl.  Govt.," 
ii.,  21.  Hearn  :  "  Govt.  in  Eng.,"  394-407. 

NOTE  n,  p.  43. — Bagehot,  in  his  remarkable  work  on  the 
English  Constitution  (p.  133)  lays  much  stress  on  what  he 
calls  "the  teaching"  and  "  informing"  functions  of  the  House 
of  Commons.  "  In  old  times  one  office  of  the  House  of  Com- 
mons was  to  inform  the  Sovereign  what  was  wrong." 

NOTE  12,  p.  45. — There  is  a  remarkable  letter  written  by 
Thomas  Allured,  a  member  of  the  Parliament  of  1628,  which 
describes  what  took  place  on  the  day  alluded  to.  The  letter  is 
preserved  in  Rushworth's  Hist.,  Coll.  i.,  609-10,  and  in  part  is 
reproduced  in  Carlyle's  Cromwell,  i.,  46.  After  saying  that 
"  Upon  Tuesday,  Sir  John  Eliot  moved  that  as  we  intended  to 
furnish  his  Majesty  with  money,  we  should  also  supply  him 
with  counsel,"  he  says:  "  But  next  day,  Wednesday,  we  had 
a  message  from  his  Majesty,  by  the  Speaker  '  that  we  should 
husband  the  time  and  despatch  our  old  business  without  enter- 


ILLUSTRATIVE  NOTES.  303 

tertaining  new.'  Yesterday,  Thursday  morning,  a  new  mes- 
sage was  brought  us,  which  I  have  here  inclosed,  which,  re- 
quiring us  not  to  cast  or  lay  any  aspersion  on  any  Minister  of 
his  Majesty,  the  House  was  much  affected  thereby.  Sir 
Robert  Philips,  of  Somershire,  spoke  and  mingled  his  words 
with  weeping.  Mr.  Pym  did  the  like.  Sir  Edward  Cook, 
overcome  with  passion,  seeing  the  desolation  likely  to  ensue, 
was  forced  to  sit  down,  when  he  began  to  speak,  by  abundance 
of  tears.  Yea,  the  Speaker  in  his  speech  could  not  refrain 
from  weeping  and  shedding  of  tears,  besides  a  great  many 
others  whose  grief  made  them  dumb.  But  others  bore  up  in 
that  storm  and  encouraged  the  rest."  The  writer  then  states 
how  the  House  resolved  itself  into  a  Committee,  how  the  Speak- 
er who  was  in  close  communication  with  the  King,  asked  for 
leave  to  withdraw  for  half  an  hour,  and  how  "  It  .was  ordered 
that  no  other  man  leave  the  House  on  pain  of  going  to  the 
Tower."  He  then  continues  :  "  Sir  Edward  Cook  told  us 
4  He  now  saw  God  had  not  accepted  of  our  humble  and  moder- 
ate carriages  and  fair  proceedings  ;  and  he  feared  the  reason 
was,  we  had  not  dealt  sincerely  with  the  King  and  country,  and 
made  a  true  representation  of  all  these  miseries,  which  he,  for 
his  part,  repented  that  he  had  not  done  sooner.  And,  there- 
fore, not  knowing  whether  he  should  ever  again  speak  in  this 
House,  he  would  now  do  it  freely  ;  and  so  did  here  protest, 
that  the  author  and  cause  of  all  these  miseries  was  the  DUKE 
OF  BUCKINGHAM,'  which  was  entertained  and  answered  with  a 
cheerful  acclamation  of  the  House.  As  when  one  good  hound 
recovers  the  scent,  the  rest  come  in  with  full  cry,  so  they  pur- 
sued it,  and  every  one  came  home,  and  laid  the  blame  where 
he  thought  the  fault  was.  And  as  we  were  putting  it  to  the 
question  whether  he  should  be  named  in  our  Remonstrance, 
as  the  chief  cause  of  all  our  miseries  at  home  and  abroad,  the 
Speaker  having  been,  not  half  an  hour,  but  three  hours  ab- 
sent, and  with  the  King,  returned,  bringing  this  message  : 


304  ILLUSTRATIVE  NOTES. 

'  That  the  House  should  then  rise,  adjourn  till  the  morrow 
morning,  no  Committee  sit  or  other  business  go  on  in  the  in- 
terim.' What  we  expect  this  morning,  God  in  heaven  knows  ! 
We  shall  meet  betimes  this  morning,  partly  for  the  business' 
sake,  and  partly  because  two  days  ago  we  made  an  order,  that 
whoever  comes  in  after  Prayers  shall  pay  twelve  pence  to  the 
poor." 

The  events  alluded  to  by  Pym  in  this  rapid  indictment  are 
all  given  in  considerable  detail  in  "  Parl.  Hist.,"  ii.,  442-525. 
On  the  2d  of  March,  when  Eliot  moved  a  new  Remonstrance, 
the  Speaker  refused  to  put  the  motion,  alleging  an  order  from 
the  King.  The  House  insisted,  whereupon  he  was  about  to 
leave  the  Chair.  Holies,  Valentine,  and  some  others  forced 
him  back  into  it.  "  God's  wounds,"  said  Holies,  "  you  shall 
sit  till  it  please  the  House  to  rise."  And  much  else  of  a 
similar  nature.  "Parl.  Hist.,"  ii.,  487-491. 

NOTE  13,  p.  47. — The  moderation  of  Pym  in  this  part  of  his 
speech  will  appear  evident  to  every  one  at  all  familiar  with 
the  course  of  events  under  the  influence  of  Laud.  A  brief 
but  excellent  account  of  the  influence  of  that  prelate's  policy 
is  given  by  Guizot,  Eiig.  Rev.,  Bohn  ed. ,  pp.  49-59. 

NOTE  14,  p.  50.  — The  particular  privileges  here  enumer- 
ated were  all  contrary  to  the  statute  passed  in  the  reign  of 
Elizabeth.  The  significance  of  the  tolerance  of  Catholics 
was  chiefly  in  the  fact  that  during  the  same  time  the  Protest- 
ant Nonconformist  was  subjected  to  every  indignity  for  refus- 
ing to  bow  his  conscience  to  the  prescribed  formula  of  doc- 
trine and  ceremony.  Laud's  favor  toward  the  Catholics  was 
so  marked  that  the  Pope  offered  him  a  Cardinal's  hat.  Laud's 
"  Diary,"  p.  49. 

NOTE  15,  p.  51. — The  most  notorions  cases  were  Dr. 
Montague  and  Dr.  Mainwaring,  who  both  received  rich  bene- 
fices and  afterwards  became  Catholics.  A  daughter  of  the 
Duke  of  Devonshire  entered  the  Catholic  Church.  Wheri 


ILLUSTRATIVE  NOTES.  305 

Laud  asked  for  her  reasons  she  responded  :  "  I  hate  to  be  in 
a  crowd,  and  as  I  perceive  your  Grace  and  many  others  are 
hastening  toward  Rome,  I  want  to  get  there  comfortably  by 
myself  before  you." 

NOTE  16,  p.  52. — The  Crown  and  the  Archbishop  regarded 
Sunday  "simply  as  one  of  the  holidays  of  the  Church,"  and 
encouraged  the  people  in  pastimes  and  recreations.  A 
"  Book  of  Sports  "  had  been  issued  in  the  time  of  James  I., 
pointing  out  the  amusements  the  people  might  properly  in- 
dulge in.  Laud  now  ordered  that  every  minister  should  read 
the  declaration  in  favor  of  Sunday  pastimes  from  the  pulpit. 
Some  refused.  One  had  the  wit  to  obey,  and  to  close  his  read- 
ing with  the  declaration  :  "You  have  heard  read,  good  peo- 
ple, both  the  commandment  of  God  and  the  commandment 
of  man.  Obey  which  you  please."  As  the  result  of-  disobeying 
the  command,  however,  many  were  silenced  or  deposed.  In 
the  diocese  of  Norwich  alone,  thirty  clergymen  were  ex- 
pelled from  their  cures.  See  Green  :  "  Hist,  of  Eng.  Peo.," 
Eng.  ed.,  iii.,  160. 

NOTE  17,  p.  54. — Of  this  part  of  Pym's  speech  Mr.  Forster 
says  :  "  A  more  massive  document  was  never  given  to  history. 
It  has  all  the  solidity,  weight,  and  gravity  of  a  judicial  record, 
while  it  addresses  itself  equally  to  the  solid  good  sense  of  the 
masses  of  the  people,  and  to  the  cultivated  understandings  of 
the  time.  The  deliberative  gravity,  the  force,  the  broad,  de- 
cided manner  of  this  great  speaker,  contrast  forcibly  with  those 
choice  specimens  of  awkward  affectations  and  labored  extrava- 
gances, that  have  not  seldom  passed  in  modern  times  for 
oratory."  "  Life  of  Pym,"  p.  99. 

NOTE  1 8,  p.  58. — The  seventh  and  twelfth  of  James  I.  were 
1610  and  1615. 

NOTE  19,  p.  58. — The  Thirty  Years'  War  in  the  Palatinate 
in  which  the  sons-in-law  of  James  I.  were  the  representative 
of  the  Protestant  cause. 


306  ILLUSTRATIVE  NOTES. 

NOTE  20,  p.  62. — A  partial  list  of  fines  imposed  between 
1629  and  1640  is  given  in  Guizot,  Eng.  Rev.,  445.  The  list 
includes  "  Hillyard,  for  having  sold  saltpetre,  .£5,000"; 
"John  Averman,  for  not  having  followed  the  King's  orders  in 
the  fabrication  of  soap,  ;£  13,000";  "  Morley,  for  having 
struck  Sir  George  Thesbold  within  the  precinct  of  the  Court, 
£  10,000  "  ;  and  a  vast  number  of  other  similar  ones. 

NOTE  21,  p.  64. — The  tax  known  as  ship  money,  which  had 
its  origin  in  the  necessity  of  universal  defence  when  the  coun- 
try was  threatened  with  invasion  was  attempted  by  Charles  but 
resisted  by  John  Hampden.  The  case  went  to  trial,  and  the 
judges  by  a  bare  majority  decided  in  favor  of  the  legality  of 
the  tax.  The  decision  is,  however,  not  now  regarded  as  hav- 
ing been  correct.  The  case  is  reviewed  in  Hallam,  "Con. 
Hist.,"  i.,  430. 

NOTE  22,  p.  65. — The  "  bounds  and  perambulations  "  were 
the  boundary  marks  and  legally  established  roads  and  paths. 
This  was  at  a  time  when  there  were  very  few,  if  any,  inclosures. 
The  possibilities  of  dispute  were  taken  advantage  of  by  the 
Government  in  a  way  that  was  enormously  oppressive.  For 
example,  the  Earl  of  Salisbury  was  fined  £2.0,000  for  "en- 
croachments," Westmorland  .£19,000,  etc.  Guizot  :  Eng. 
£ev.,44$. 

NOTE  220,  p.  68. — The  application  of  this  grievance  was  par- 
ticularly burdensome  in  the  vicinity  of  London.  Exemption 
from  demolition  was  purchased  by  the  immediate  payment  of 
fine  amounting  to  a  three  years'  tax. 

NOTE  23,  p.  69. — The  King  had  specifically  agreed  in  the 
"Petition  of  Right"  to  correct  the  grievance  here  com- 
plained of.  And  yet  it  continued  after  eleven  years  to  be  "a 
growing  evil." 

NOTE  24,  p.  72. — The  "  projectors  "  referred  to  were  those 
undertaking  monopolies.  The  "referees"  were  law  officers 
appointed  by  the  Crown  to  decide  all  legal  questions  arising  in 


ILLUSTRATIVE  NOTES.  307 

regard  to  monopolies.  In  1621  Buckingham  threw  the  blame 
of  all  irregularities  in  the  matter  of  monopolies  on  the  "ref- 
erees," and,  on  motion  of  Cranfield,  a  Parliamentary  inquiry 
was  made  into  their  conduct.  The  matter  is  explained  in 
Gardiner's  "  History  of  England,"  2d  ed.,  iv.,  48  ;  and  in 
Church's  "  Bacon,"  128. 

NOTE  25,  p.  82. — The  reader  who  has  followed  this  speech 
so  far  certainly  will  not  be  surprised  that  Pym  at  length  ex- 
perienced some  "  confusion  of  memory."  The  "opportunity" 
was  never  afforded,  as  parliament  was  dissolved  within  three 
days. 

NOTE  26,  p.  loo. — The  reference  here  is  to  Lord  Bute, 
whose  influence  with  the  King  had  secured  the  overthrow  of 
Pitt's  ministry  in  1761.  Bute  was  a  politician  whose  chief 
power  was  in  his  gifts  for  intrigue.  Though  for  these  very 
qualities  he  was  liked  by  the  King,  he  was  detested  by  the 
people, — as  Macaulay  says, — "  by  many  as  a  Tory,  by  many 
as  a  favorite,  and  by  many  as  a  Scot."  For  a  long  time  it 
was  not  prudent  for  him  to  appear  in  the  streets  without  dis- 
guising himself.  The  populace  were  in  the  habit  of  repre- 
senting him  by  "  a  jackboot,  generally  accompanied  by  a  pet- 
ticoat." This  they  paraded  as  a  contemptuous  pun  on  his 
name,  and  ended  by  fastening  it  on  the  gallows  or  committing 
it  to  the  flames.  Pitt  had  been  charged  with  prejudice  against 
Bute  on  account  of  his  being  a  Scotchman.  It  was  to  refute 
this  charge  that  he  alludes  to  his  having  been  the  first  to  em- 
ploy the  Scotch  Highlanders. 

NOTE  27,  p.  104. — This  whole  passage  may  well  be  com- 
pared with  that  on  the  same  subject  in  Lord  Mansfield's 
speech  on  p.  150.  Compare  also  the  argument  of  Burke  on 
American  Taxation. 

NOTE  28,  p.  105. — This  is  believed  to  be  the  first  reference 
made  in  Parliament  to  the  necessity  of  legislative  reform. 
The  younger  Pitt  advocated  a  reform  during  the  early  years 


3O8  ILLUSTRATIVE  NOTES. 

of  his  career ;  but  the  horrors  of  the  French  Revolution  so 
shocked  public  opinion,  that  no  change  for  the  better  could  be 
made  until  the  Ministry  of  Earl  Grey  in  1832. 

NOTE  29,  p.  no. — It  was  not  until  the  reign  of  Henry  VIII. 
that  the  right  of  representation  in  Parliament  was  extended  to 
Wales,  and  the  counties  of  Chester  and  Monmouth.  To  the 
county  of  Durham  the  right  was  not  given  till  1673.  Until 
these  counties  were  represented,  they  were  not  directly  taxed 
except  for  purely  local  purposes. 

NOTE  30,  p.  114. — One  of  the  speakers,  Mr.  Nugent,  had 
said  that  "  a  pepper-corn,  in  acknowledgment  of  the  right  to 
tax  America,  was  of  more  value  than  millions  without  it." 

NOTE  31,  p.  126. — The  capitulation  of  Burgoyne's  army 
took  place  October  17,  1777,  just  one  month  before  the  deliv- 
ery of  Chatham's  speech.  There  was  still  much  doubt  in 
England  in  regard  to  the  magnitude  of  the  disaster. 

NOTE  32,  p.  132. — Negotiations  had  been  going  on  between 
the  colonies  and  France  for  more  than  a  year,  though  this  fact, 
of  course,  was  not  known  in  England.  Silas  Deane  had  been 
appointed  Commissioner  to  France  even  before  the  Declaration 
of  Independence.  In  Nov.  of  1776,  Lee  and  Franklin  were 
appointed  by  Congress  to  negotiate  a  treaty  of  friendship  and 
commerce  with  the  French  king.  But  the  French  were  wary 
of  alliance,  though  they  were  willing  to  wink  at  the  secret  ar- 
rangements by  which  supplies  were  furnished  by  Beaumarchais. 
These  supplies,  furnished  in  the  autumn  of  1777,  were  de- 
tained, and  did  not  reach  America  in  time  to  prevent  the 
terrible  sufferings  at  Valley  Forge  in  the  following  winter. 
When  news  of  Burgoyne's  surrender  reached  France,  the 
French  Government  no  longer  hesitated,  and  a  final  treaty  by 
which  France  acknowledged  the  Independence  of  the  United 
States  was  signed  on  the  6th  of  February,  1778.  For  most 
interesting  and  authentic  details,  see  Parton's  "  Life  of  Frank- 
lin," vol.  ii.,  ch.  vii. 


ILLUSTRATIVE  NOTES.  309 

NOTE  33,  p.  140. — The  walls  of  the  old  room  in  which  the 
House  of  Lords  assembled  were  covered  wilh  tapestries,  one 
of  which  represented  the  English  fleet  led  out  to  conflict  with 
the  Spanish  Armada  by  Lord  Efnngham  Howard,  an  ancestor 
of  Lord  Suffolk. 

NOTE  34,  p.  160. — This  argument  of  Mansfield  drawn  from 
the  Navigation  Acts  is  fully  refuted  by  Burke  in  his  speech 
on  "  American  Taxation."  Burke  takes  the  ground  that 
none  of  these  acts  were  passed  for  the  sake  of  revenue,  but 
that  all  of  them  were  designed  simply  to  give  direction  to 
trade.  He  also  shows  that  there  is  a  marked  distinction  be- 
tween external  and  internal  taxation.  The  whole  of  Burke's 
speech  may  well  be  read  with  protit  in  connection  with  that 
of  Mansfield. 

NOTE  35,  p.  164. — This  reference  is  probably  to  James  Otis' 
volume  published  in  London  in  1765,  entitled :  "The  Rights  of 
the  Colonies  Asserted  and  Proved."  It  had  previously  been 
published  in  Boston,  after  having  been  read  in  MS.  in  the  Massa- 
chusetts House  of  Representatives.  The  instructions  of  May, 
1764,  contained  in  the  appendix  were  drawn  up  by  Samuel 
Adams.  It  is  possible,  however,  that  the  orator  referred  to 
Otis'  "  Vindication  of  the  Conduct  of  the  House  of  Represen- 
tatives of  the  Province  of  Mass.  Bay,"  which  had  appeared  in 
1762,  and  which  contained  in  a  nutshell  the  whole  American 
cause.  John  Adams  said  of  it :  "  Look  over  the  Declarations 
of  Rights  and  Wrongs  issued  by  Congress  in  1774  ;  look  into 
the  Declaration  of  Independence  of  1776  ;  look  into  the  writ- 
ings of  Dr.  Price  and  Dr.  Priestley.  Look  into  all  the  French 
Constitutions  of  Government ;  and,  to  cap  the  climax,  look  into 
Mr.  Thomas  Paine 's  '  Common  Sense,'  'Crisis,' and  'Rights 
of  Man,'  and  what  can  you  find  that  is  not  to  be  found  in  this 
Vindication  of  the  House  of  Representatives  ?  "  During  the 
same  year  also,  Otis  published  "  A  Vindication  of  the  British 
Colonies,"  and  "Considerations  on  behalf  of  the  Colonists, 


310  ILLUSTRATIVE  NOTES. 

in  a  letter  to  a  Noble  Lord."  The  London  reprint  of  the 
"Vindication  of  the  British  Colonies"  was  accompanied  with 
the  statement :  "This  tract  is  republished,  not  for  any  excel- 
lence of  the  work,  but  for  the  eminence  of  tlie  author."  We 
see  here  the  leader  in  the  American  disputes  declaring  the 
universal  opinion  of  the  Colonies  against  the  authority  of 
the  British  Parliament. 

NOTE  36,  p.  185. — This  exordium  is  almost  bad  enough  to 
justify  Hazlitt's  remark  :  "  Most  of  his  speeches  have  a  sort  of 
parliamentary  preamble  to  them  ;  there  is  an  air  of  affected 
modesty  and  ostentatious  trifling  in  them  ;  he  seems  fond  of 
coquetting  with  the  House  of  Commons,  and  is  perpetually 
calling  the  Speaker  out  to  dance  a  minuet  with  him  before  he 
begins." 

NOTE  37,  p.  185. — This  was  an  Act  to  restrain  the  Commerce 
of  the  Provinces  of  New  England,  and  to  confine  it  to  Great 
Britain,  Ireland,  and  the  British  West  Indies. 

NOTE  38,  p.  187. — Reference  is  made  to  the  Repeal  of  the 
Stamp  Act,  which  took  place  in  Rockingham's  Administration 
by  a  vote  of  275  to  161. 

NOTE  39,  p.  189. — This  rather  striking  thought  was  firmly 
implanted  in  Burke's  mind.  In  his  paper  on  "  Present  Dis- 
content," he  apologized  for  "stepping  a  little  out  of  the 
ordinary  sphere"  of  private  people.  In  one  of  his  letters  he 
says  :  "  We  live  in  a  nation  where,  at  present,  there  is  scarce 
a  single  head  that  does  not  teem  with  politics.  Every  man 
has  contrived  a  scheme  of  government  for  the  benefit  of  his 
fellow-subjects." 

NOTE  40,  p.  191. — It  must  be  confessed  this  is  a  little 
pompous.  Burke's  scheme  was  simply  to  yield  to  the  colonies 
what  they  claimed,  and  it  was  not  good  policy  to  pronounce 
such  an  encomium  on  it  in  advance.  There  were  those  who 
said:  "On  this  simple  principle  of  granting  everything  re- 
quired, and  stipulating  for  nothing  in  return,  we  can  terminate 
every  difference  throughout  the  world." 


ILLUSTRATIVE  NOTES. 


NOTE  41,  p.  191. — The  Congress  of  Philadelphia  in  1774 
declared  that  after  the  Repeal  of  the  Stamp  Act  the  colonies 
"fell  into  their  ancient  state  of  unsuspecting  confidence  in  the 
mother  country."  Burke  comments  on  this  statement  in  his 
letter  to  the  Sheriffs  of  Bristol  in  1777. 

NOTE  42,  p.  192. — Lord  North's  plan  of  conciliation,  al- 
ready described  in  the  introduction  to  this  speech. 

NOTE  43,  p.  193. — The  address  to  the  King  declaring  that 
rebellion  existed  in  Massachusetts,  requesting  the  King  to  take 
energetic  measures  to  suppress  it,  and  pledging  the  cooperation 
of  Parliament. 

NOTE  44,  p.  196. — The  computation  carefully  made  by 
Mr.  Bancroft  ("Hist.,"  Svo  ed.,  vol.  iv.,  p.  128)  more  than 
justifies  Burke's  figures.  Bancroft  gives  the  following  : 


White. 

Black. 

Total. 

1,260,000 

260,000 

1,425,000 

310,000 

1,695,000 

462,000 

2,312,000 

562,000 

2,045.000 

752,069 

3,927,320 

See  Johnson's  "Taxation  no  Tyranny"  (Works,  x.,  96)  in 
which  he  savagely  speaks  of  "3,000,000  Whigs,  fierce  for 
liberty,  which  multiply  with  the  fecundity  of  their  own 
rattlesnakes."  He  thought  the  eggs  should  be  destroyed. 

NOTE  45,  p.  197. — Reference  to  the  legal  maxim,  " De 
minimis  non  jurat  lex." 

NOTE  46,  p.  198. — Mr.  Glover  who  appeared  at  the  bar  to 
support  a  petition  of  the  West  Indian  planters  praying  that 
peace  might  be  concluded  with  the  colonies. 

NOTE  47,  p.  199. — Davenant  afterward  published  a  some- 
what important  work  entitled  "Discourses  on  Revenue  and 
Trade,"  and  it  was  probably  the  MS.  of  this  to  which  Burke 
referred. 


312  ILLUSTRATIVE  NOTES. 

NOTE  48,  p.  202. — Burke's  reasoning  has  been  more  than 
justified  by  subsequent  history.  Cobden  :  "Writings,"  i.,g8, 
more  than  fifty  years  after  Burke  spoke,  declared:  "The 
people  of  the  United  States  constitute  our  largest  and  most 
valualile  connection.  The  business  we  carry  on  with  them 
is  nearly  twice  as  extensive  as  that  with  any  other  people." 
The  American  official  returns  since  1850  show  that  more  than 
one  third  of  the  imports  came  from  England,  and  that  more 
than  one  half  of  the  exports  go  to  England. 

NOTE  49,  p.  202. — A  curious  adaptation  from  Virgil.  Eel. 
iv.,  26.  If,  while  he  was  changing  parentis  to  parentum 
he  had  omitted  potent,  he  would  at  least  have  left  a 
good  Latin  sentence.  But  Burke  quoted  from  memory 
and  was  often  inexact,  not  only  in  the  choice  of  words, 
but  also  in  pronunciation.  Harford  relates  that  he  was 
once  indulging  in  some  very  severe  animadversions  on  Lord 
North's  management  of  the  public  purse.  While  this  phil- 
ippic was  going  on,  North  appeared  to  be  half-asleep, 
"heaving  backward  and  forward  like  a  great  turtle."  Burke 
introduced  the  aphorism :  magmun  vectigal  est  parsimonia, 
putting  a  wrong  accent  on  the  second  word  and  calling  it 
vtctigal.  The  scholarly  ear  of  North  was  sufficiently  attentive 
to  catch  the  mistake,  and  he  shouted  out  vectigal.  "  I  thank 
the  noble  lord,"  responded  Burke,  "for  the  correction,  more 
particularly  as  it  gives  me  the  opportunity  to  repeat  what  he 
greatly  needs  to  have  reiterated  upon  him.  He  then  thundered 
out :  " Magnum  vectigal  est  parsimonia" 

NOTE  50,  p.  206. — In  allusion  to  the  well-known  story  told 
at  length  by  Valerius  Maximus,  lib.  v.,  7  ;  and  in  briefer 
form  by  Pliny,  "  Nat.  Ilist.,"  vii.,  36. 

NOTE  51,  p.  208. — The  whole  of  this  magnificent  passage 
was  founded  upon  very  substantial  facts.  Massachusetts 
had  183  vessels,  carrying  13,820  tons  in  the  North,  and  I2O 
vessels,  carrying  14,026  tons  in  the  South.  It  was  in  1775, 


ILLUSTRATIVE  NOTES.  313 

the  very  year  of  Burke's  speech,  that  English  ships  were 
first  fitted  out  to  follow  the  Americans  into  the  fisheries  of 
the  South  Seas.  See  Quarterly  Review,  Ixiii.,  318. 

NOTE  52,  p.  211. — At  the  lime  of  the  great  struggle  against 
the  Stuarts.  In  the  Annual  Register,  for  1775,  p.  14,  Burke 
says  ;  "  The  American  freeholders  at  present  are  nearly,  in 
point  of  condition,  what  the  English  yeomen  were  of  old  when 
they  rendered  us  formidable  to  all  Europe,  and  our  name  cele- 
brated throughout  the  world.  The  former,  from  many  ob- 
vious circumstances,  are  more  enthusiastical  lovers  of  liberty 
than  even  our  yeomen  were." 

NOTE  53,  p.  213. — The  differences  here  indicated  are  fully 
explained  in  Marshall's  "American  Colonies,"  Story  "On 
the  Constitution,"  Lodge's  "English  Colonies  in  America," 
and  more  briefly  in  vol.  iv.,  chap,  vi.,  of  Bancroft.  It  is 
noteworthy  that  it  was  not  in  the  most  democratic  forms  of 
government  that  the  most  violent  resolutions  were  passed. 
See  Ann.  Reg.  for  1775,  p.  6. 

NOTE  54,  p.  218. — General  Gage  had  prohibited  the  calling 
of  town  meetings  after  August  I,  1774.  The  meetings  held 
before  August  1st  were  adjourned  over  from  time  to  time,  and 
consequently  there  was  no  need  of  "  calling  "  meetings.  Gage 
complained  that  by  such  means  they  could  keep  their  meet- 
ings alive  for  ten  years.  See  Bancroft,  vii.,  chap,  viii.,  and 
Ann.  Reg.,  1775,  p.  II. 

NOTE  55,  p.  219. — The  "  ministrum  fulminis  alitem  "  of 
Horace,  bk.  iv.,  ode  i. 

NOTE  56,  p.  227. — In  1766,  Lieutenant-Governor  Fauquier 
had  written  to  the  Lords  in  Trade:  "In  disobedience  to  all 
proclamations,  in  defiance  of  law,  and  without  the  least  shadow 
of  right  to  claim  or  defend  their  property,  people  are  daily 
going  out  to  settle  beyond  the  Alleghany  Mountains." 
Migration  hither  was  prohibited.  "Bat  the  prohibition  only 
set  apart  the  Great  Valley  as  the  sanctuary  of  the  unhappy, 


314  ILLUSTRATIVE  NOTES. 

the  adventurous,  and  the  free  ;  of  those  whom  enterprise,  or 
curiosity,  or  disgust  at  the  forms  of  life  in  the  old  plantations 
raised  above  royal  edicts."  Bancroft,  vi.,  33. 

NOTE  57,  p.  233. — Reference  is  made  to  the  brutal  attack  of 
Sir  Edward  Coke  upon  Sir  Walter  Raleigh,  the  details  of 
which  are  given  in  Ilowell's  "  State  Trials,"  ii.,  7. 

NOTE  58,  p.  240. — Milton's  "  Paradise  Lost,"  ii.,  594. 

NOTE  59,  p.  240. — This  passage  has  been  much  admired 
for  the  skill  with  which  Burke  excludes  the  general  question  of 
the  right  of  taxation,  and  confines  himself  to  the  expediency 
of  particular  methods.  But  this  was  in  accordance  with  all  of 
Burke's  political  philosophy.  In  his  ' '  Appeal  from  the  Old  to 
the  New  Whigs,"  he  announces  the  principle  which  governs  him 
in  all  such  cases  :  ' '  Nothing  universal  can  be  rationally  affirmed 
on  any  moral  or  any  political  subject.  Pure  methaphysical 
abstraction  does  not  belong  to  these  matters.  The  lines  of 
morality  are  not  like  ideal  lines  of  mathematics.  They  are 
broad  and  deep  as  well  as  long.  They  admit  of  exceptions  ; 
they  demand  modifications.  These  exceptions  and  modifica- 
tions are  not  made  by  the  process  of  logic,  but  by  the  rules  of 
prudence.  Prudence  is  not  only  the  first  in  rank  of  the  virtues 
political  and  moral,  but  she  is  the  director,  the  regulator,  the 
standard  of  them  all" 

NOTE  60,  p.  244. — The  pamphlet  from  which  Lord  North 
"  seems  to  have  borrowed  these  ideas,"  was  by  Dean  Tucker, 
a  work  to  which,  Dr.  Johnson  in  "Taxation  no  Tyranny," 
(Works,  x.,  139)  pays  his  respects,  and  which  Burke  had  alluded 
to  in  no  very  complimentary  terms  in  his  speech  on  "Ameri- 
can Taxation."  But  Mr.  Forster,  in  his  "  Life  of  Goldsmith," 
i.,  412,  speaks  of  Tucker  as  "  the  only  man  of  that  day  who 
thoroughly  anticipated  the  judgment  and  experience  of  our 
own  on  the  question  of  the  American  colonies."  The  fact  is 
that  Tucker  was  a  "free  trader,"  and  was  in  favor  of  the 
establishment  of  complete  freedom  of  trade,  as  the  best  that 


ILLUSTRATIVE  NOTES.  315 

could  possibly  be  done  with  the  colonies.  To  an  account  of 
Dean  Tucker's  pamphlets  several  interesting  pages  are  given 
in  Smyth's  "  Modern  History,"  Lecture  xxxii.,  Am.  ed.,  p. 
571,  seq. 

NOTE  6r,  p.  248. — The  English  settlers  in  Ireland  were 
obliged  to  keep  themselves  within  certain  boundaries  known  as 
"  The  Pale."  They  were  distinct  from  the  Irish,  and  were  gov- 
erned by  English  lords.  By  an  act  in  the  time  of  James  I. ,  the 
privileges  of  the  Pale  were  first  extended  to  the  rest  of  Ireland. 

NOTE  62,  p.  249. — In  1612,  Sir  John  Davis,  who  had  been 
much  in  Ireland,  and  knew  Irish  affairs  better  than  any  other 
person  in  his  time,  published  a  book  entitled  :  "  Discoverie 
of  the  true  Causes  why  Ireland  was  never  entirely  subdued 
until  the  beginning  of  his  Majestie's  happy  reign." 

NOTE  63,  p.  250. — Under  Henry  III.,  Wales  was  ruled  by 
its  own  Prince  Llewellen,  who  secured  the  assistance  of 
Henry  against  a  rebellious  son,  and  as  a  reward  acknowledged 
fealty  as  a  vassal.  It  was  not  till  Edward  I.,  that  the  con- 
quest was  completed.  O'Connell  once  said  :  ' '  Wales  was  once 
the  Ireland  of  the  English  Government,"  and  then  proceeded 
to  apply  to  Ireland  what  Burke  here  says  of  Wales. — 
"  O'Connell's  speech  of  Aug.  30,  1826." 

NOTE  64,  p.  252. — When  the  reduction  to  order  of  Wales 
was  found  impossible  by  ordinary  means,  the  English  King 
granted  to  the  Lords  Marchers  "  such  lands  as  they  could  win 
from  the  Welshmen."  On  these  lands  the  lords  were  allowed 
"to  take  upon  themselves  such  prerogative  and  authority  as 
were  fit  for  the  quiet  government  of  the  country."  About  the 
castles  of  the  Lords  Marchers  grew  up  the  towns  of  Wales. 
Within  their  domains  they  exercised  English  laws  ;  but  on  the 
unconquered  lands  the  old  Welsh  laws  still  prevailed.  The 
courts,  therefore,  had  to  administer  both  forms  of  law,  and 
there  was  consequently  great  confusion  even  in  the  most  peace- 
ful times.  There  were  fifteen  acts  of  penal  regulation,  pro- 


316  ILLUSTRATIVE  NOTES. 

viding  that  no  Welshman  should  be  allowed  to  become  a 
burgess,  or  purchase  any  land  in  town.  Henry  IV.,  ii. , 
chaps,  xii.— xx.  In  the  time  of  Edward  I.,  the  special  privileges 
of  the  Lords  Marchers  were  swept  away.  See  Stubbs'  "  Con. 
Hist.,"  8vo  ed.,  i.,  514-520,  and  ii.,  117-137;  Scott's  "Be- 
trothed," and  the  Appendix  to  Pennant's  "  Tour  in  Wales." 

NOTE  65,  p.  254. — Horace,  "Odes,"  bk.  i.,  12,  27.  The 
allusion  is  to  the  deification  of  Augustus  and  the  superin- 
tending influence  of  Castor  and  Pollux.  The  passage  was 
translated  by  Gifford  thus  : 

"  When  their  auspicious  star 

To  the  sailor  shines  afar, 
The  troubled  waters  leave  the  rocks  at  rest ; 
The  clouds  are  gone,  the  winds  are  still, 
The  angry  wave  obeys  their  will, 
And  calmly  sleeps  upon  the  ocean's  breast." 

NOTE  66,  p.  258. — Milton's  "Comus,"  1.  633,  not  quite 
correctly  quoted. 

NOTE  67,  p.  261. — Horace,  "Satir.,"  ii.,  2.  "  The  precept 
is  not  mine.  Ofellus  gave  it  in  his  rustic  strain  irregular, 
but  wise." 

NOTE  68,  p.  261. — In  allusion  to  the  declaration  in  Exodus 
xx.,  25  :  "If  thou  lift  up  thy  tool  upon  it  [the  altar]  thou  hast 
polluted  it." 

NOTE  69,  p.  265. — In  allusion  to  a  statement  that  had 
been  made  by  Grenville.  Burke  said  in  his  speech  on  Ameri- 
can taxation  :  "He  has  declared  in  this  House  an  hundred 
times,  that  the  colonies  could  not  legally  grant  any  revenues 
to  the  Crown." 

NOTE  70,  p.  278. — This  was  in  strict  accordance  with  Burke's 
political  philosophy.  In  a  letter  to  the  Sheriff  of  Bristol,  he 
wrote:  "Of  one  thing  I  am  perfectly  clear,  that  it  is  not  by 
deciding  the  suit,  but  by  compromising  the  difference,  that 
peace  can  be  restored  or  kept." 


ILLUSTRATIVE  NOTES.  317 

NOTE  71,  p.  278. — Shak.:  "Othello," Act  in.,  Scene  v.  So 
at  the  beginning  of  his  paper  on  the  "Present  Discontents," 
Burke  speaks  of  "  reputation,  the  most  precious  possession  of 
every  individual."  In  the  fourth  letter  on  a  "  Regicide  Peace," 
he  said  :  "  Our  ruin  will  be  disguised  in  profit,  and  the  sale  of 
a  few  wretched  baubles  will  bribe  a  degenerate  people  to  bar- 
ter away  the  most  precious  jewel  of  their  souls." 

NOTE  72,  p.  279. — "  I  drew  them  with  cords  of  a  man,  with 
bands  of  love." — HOSEA,  xi.,  4. 

NOTE  73,  p.  279. — Another  illustration  of  Burke's  habit  of 
making  use  of  the  inestimable  maxims  of  the  great  Greek 
politician. 

NOTE  74,  p.  282. — "  Experiment  upon  a  worthless  subject" 
was  a  maxim  among  old  scientific  inquirers. 

NOTE  75,  p.  286. — A  "Treasury  Extent"  was  a  writ  of 
Commission  for  valuing  lands  and  tenements  for  satisfying  a 
Crown  debt. 

NOTE  76,  p.  289. — The  quotation  is  from  Juvenal  i.,  1.  90, 
and  refers  to  the  habit  of  the  Roman  gambler.  Gifford  ren- 
ders the  passage : 

"  For  now  no  more  the  pocket's  stores  supply 
The  boundless  charges  of  the  desperate  die, 
The  chest  itself  is  staked." 

NOTE  77,  p.  291. — Milton's  Paradise  Lost,  iv.,  106.  This 
also  is  a  misquotation  : — retract  should  be  recant.  Burke  sel- 
dom took  the  trouble  to  verify  his  quotations,  but  relied  upon 
a  powerful,  though  slightly  fallible,  memory. 

NOTE  78,  p.  294. — This  passage  is  perhaps  one  of  the  no- 
blest and  most  characteristic  of  all  Burke's  utterances.  And 
yet,  in  all  its  magnificance  it  shows  how  largely  the  orator  was 
indebted  to  his  reading.  Mr.  E.  J.  Payne,  as  an  illustration 
of  the  way  in  which  Burke  "repays  his  rich  thievery  of  the 
Bible  and  the  English  poets,"  has  pointed  out  the  sources  from 
which  the  most  striking  expressions  were  consciously  or  uncon- 


3l8  ILLUSTRATIVE  NOTES. 

sciously  derived.  The  closing  sentence  in  an  adaptation  from 
Virgil,  JEn.  vi.,  726  ;  "  My  trust  is  in  her,"  is  from  the  Psalms  ; 
"  Light  as  air,"  etc.,  from  Othello  ;  "Grapple  to  you,"  from 
Hamlet;  "  No  force  under  heaven,"  etc.,  from  St.  Paul; 
"Chosen  race,"  Tate  &  Brady;  "Perfect  obedience"  and 
"  mysterious  whole,"  from  Pope.  Most  striking  of  all,  the 
passage  in  which  "the  chosen  race  "  is  represented  "turning 
their  faces  towards  you,"  is  from  I.  Kings,  viii.,  44-45.  "  If 
the  people  go  out  to  battle,  or  whithersoever  thou  shall  send 
them,  and  shall  pray  unto  the  Lord  toward  the  city,  which 
thou  hast  chosen,  and  toward  the  house  that  I  have  built  in  thy 
name,  then  hear  thou  in  heaven  their  prayer  and  their  suppli- 
cation, and  maintain  their  cause." 

NOTE  79,  p.  295. — Until  1798  the  Land  Tax  yielded  from 
one  third  to  one  half  of  all  the  revenue  ;  but  in  that  year  it  was 
made  permanent,  and  now  yields  only  about  one  sixty-fourth. 

NOTE  80,  p.  295. — The  Mutiny  Bill  plays  a  very  curious  part 
in  English  Constitutional  usage.  In  the  Declaration  of  Rights 
it  was  declared  that  "  standing  armies  and  martial  law  in  peace, 
without  the  consent  of  Parliament,  are  illegal."  The  "  consent 
of  Parliament  "  is  now  secured  in  the  following  manner  :  An 
appropriation  is  made  to  support  such  an  army  as  is  needed, 
but  all  of  the  provisions  of  the  appropriating  bill  are  limited 
to  one  year.  In  order  to  maintain  even  the  nucleus  of  an  army, 
therefore,  it  is  absolutely  necessary  that  Parliament  should  be  in 
session  every  year.  This  is  the  only  provision  guaranteeing  an 
annual  assembling  of  Parliament. 

NOTE  81,  p.  296. — Sursum  Corda  :  "let  your  hearts  arise," 
was  the  form  of  a  call  to  silent  prayer  at  certain  intervals  in  the 
Roman  Catholic  service." 

NOTE  82,  p.  296. — Let  it  be  happy  and  prosperous,  was  a 
form  of  prayer  among  the  Romans  at  the  beginning  of  an  im- 
portant undertaking. 


